Learning to Breathe
by ma531419
Summary: East High: a place of cliques Troy Bolton: the king loved by all Gabriella Montez: a geek unknown to most In an imperfect world of pain and suffering they find comfort in each other But how does the world react? Will it tear them down or bring them closer
1. Chapter 1: As it was in the Beginning

Disclaimer: I own nothing

AN: Well I guess you all can see which option I chose lol

Chapter 1: As it was in the Beginning

Sharpay Evans, Taylor McKessie, Kelsi Neilson, and Claire Hanson were all zipping up their dresses and checking their hair and make up, they had to look perfect, they didn't want to be the ones to screw this day up. Gabriella Montez came out of the connected room.

"Can someone zip me up?" she asked

Sharpay came sprinting over, "There you go honey." She smiled at her now best friend. Taylor passed each woman her flowers and gave Gabriella a once over.

"Okay I think everyone's ready." She smiled confidently

"Should I let the them know?" Kelsi asked

Gabriella nodded, "Wait! Where's Jack, oh my God, he's supposed to be here, oh shit where is he?" a wave of panic coursed through her body.

"I'm on it!" Claire went sprinting out the door, two minutes later she came back with Jack.

"Chill Gabs, this is all going to be good." He reassured her, taking her arm. Gabriella nodded.

Chad Danforth straightened out his tie waiting for his friends to appear. Jason Cross, Zeke Baylor, and Ryan Evans appeared. They looked at each other, where was Troy.

Troy came in, "Guys, can someone fix the flower?" Ryan nodded and walked over, straightening it out.

"Okay," Zeke said, "I think we're ready here."

"Wait, where's Lindsay?" Troy asked, suddenly panicked that this wouldn't go as planned.

"It's okay, here she is." Jason said, showing Troy the pretty blond that had come in the room.

"Okay, I'm gonna go see how everything else is running." Zeke said leaving. This was it.

FLASHBACK TO SIX YEARS AGO

Gabriella Montez got out of bed shutting her alarm off. She sighed as she got up and got dressed. She looked in the mirror at her reflection, she was a pretty girl, in a natural way, but she still hated school. Not the studies, no she thrived on learning, no she hated the place: East High. She hated the cliques and the way they worked. She'd never been anywhere or heard of anywhere so horrible before.

She walked downstairs and into the kitchen. Her mother was there feeding her baby sister, Erin. Her father was reading the paper while eating his breakfast. Gabriella sat down at her place and began to nibble on her cereal. Silently her parents watched their daughter. They knew that she hated school, ever since they moved here four years ago.

She got up and kissed both of her parents and Erin before grabbing her bag and car keys, heading out to her living hell. She pulled into the parking lot and sighed. "Another day." She mumbled, getting out of the car.

She walked quietly to her locker, unnoticed by most of the population. "Great" she thought as she got ready to walk past the 'popular' crowd. Looking down as she past them, hoping to magically become invisible, she cringed when she heard her name called, she looked up into the eyes of Chad Danforth.

"Montez." He sneered

"What Chad?" she sighed wearily, hadn't they had enough of this? She looked behind them, Troy Bolton clearly wasn't with them, they never hurt a soul when he was around, they knew he'd leave them in a heartbeat, and the school couldn't function without it's God, Troy Bolton.

"I need you to do this for me." He stuck his math worksheet in her face. She hated this, she took the sheet of paper and tossed it to the ground, walking past them, she'd never caved and cheated, even with their taunts.

She rounded the corner to her locker, sighing in relief when she saw her three 'friends' there. She was, she supposed, close to them, but no one really knew what she was thinking or feeling, no one seemed to care.

"Brie, sleepover at mine tonight." Claire Hanson jumped up and down, her pretty red curls bouncing and her bright blue eyes shining with excitement.

"Look at the excited geeks, what'd you do? Solve a math equation?" Sharpay asked sarcastically.

"Kiss my ass Evans, like you would ever know true excitement and happiness if it ran straight into your sparkly pink self." Claire spat.

"Push me Hanson, I dare you." Sharpay challenged

"I accepted that dare years ago Evans, you've just never done anything about." She retorted.

Sharpay, thoroughly insulted, stomped away, with the posse following. "They'll never learn." Taylor McKessie sighed.

"So you in Gabs?" Kelsi Neilson asked

Gabriella smiled her fake smile that they had grown so accustomed to, "Yeah, I'm in." Claire squealed with excitement as the bell rang, They groaned, they may like learning, but no one likes homeroom with Mrs. Darbus.

They linked arms and made their way to the classroom.

That same morning Troy Bolton got out of bed and turned his own alarm off. Stretching he made his way into his bathroom. He got ready and headed out of his house for his morning run. An hour and a half later he returned to find his parents still in bed. He smiled as he showered, thinking about school. He really didn't mind it. Today was going to be a particularly good day because basketball tryouts were after school. Once he was out and ready to go he went downstairs for the best homemade breakfast in the world, cooked by his amazing mother.

"Hey mom and dad." He greeted his parents.

"Morning baby." His mom said

"Troy, Dylan's coming into town in a couple of weeks." His dad told him.

"Seriously! How long will he be here for?" Troy asked excitedly, basketball and seeing his older brother who was a freshman at UCLA were the only things that REALLY excited Troy.

"He didn't say love, but he's coming home for a visit." His mother smiled, the two boys had always been incredibly close.

Troy kissed his mom and dad goodbye as he grabbed his bag and keys and headed off to school. He parked his car and walked in the building, greeted by everyone and flirted with by girls. He sighed, he didn't know why they liked him. He knew he was told he was attractive, although he always thought he was pretty average, with brown hair and blue eyes. Maybe they just flirted with him because he was captain of the basketball team. He shook his head when he found the space around his locker vacant.

"Don't know if that's good or bad." He mumbled to himself. At least his 'friends' weren't bothering him about this or that and Helen Parker wasn't hanging all over him, calling herself his girlfriend. But then again, them not being here might mean they're bullying someone innocent. Troy never liked bullying. He constantly scolded his friends whenever he saw or heard something about it.

"Just because we've been deemed popular by the rest of the school doesn't mean we're better than anyone else." He knew his friends didn't like his attitude, but there was nothing they could do about it. He wouldn't change it for anything, his values meant a lot to him, and the school as a whole made him popular, not those few people that he got stuck hanging out with. The school considered Troy Bolton their king and the most popular guy for three reasons, 1. He was incredibly hot (which he didn't know), 2. He was the best basketball player the school ever saw (which he thought was bullshit, they hadn't seen other generations how could they know?), and 3. The most important reason was that he was incredibly selfless, he didn't think he deserved the recognition he got, and he was always looking out for others. He never tolerated the bullying his friends did and ALWAYS called them out on it when he knew it was happening, even if the entire student body was watching them get beat up.

He sighed when he saw his friends walk up. Helen Parker, an audacious brunette with green eyes draped and arm around Troy's waist. He shrugged out of her grasp.

"Troykins." She pouted, "Why do you pretend not to like me?"

"It's not pretend, it's real life." He mumbled. His friends always thought he should be with the captain of the cheerleading squad, but Sharpay Evans thought of Troy as a brother and had her eyes on Zeke Baylor, another basketball player. Her friends thought she also belonged with Troy. After a year of yelling at them they finally got it, to Troy and Sharpay that would be incest. So the co-captain of the cheerleading squad went after him, Sharpay's best friend Helen Parker. Troy almost hated Helen, he thought she was arrogant and self-absorbed.

"Ready for tryouts?" Ryan Evans asked Troy.

"Always dude." Troy smiled catching the ball Chad Danforth threw at him. The bell rang, they all groaned. All of them hated school except for Troy and Ryan, they were in all honors and A.P. classes, but still, no one could deal with homeroom with Darbus.

AN: Okay, there's the first chapter. The whole thing is pretty much in flashback format btws. If I slip into the present time I'll let ya'll know, but I don't think I will. I've thought about what you guys said, and most said to post the first chapter, but not post anymore until I finish another story. I like that idea, but I think I'm going to post it like a regular story. I think the ideas for this might be clogging up my head, and if I get a couple of chapters of this out I should be able to update my other stories more often. I just get bogged down with too many ideas. I'm pretty much done with my oneshot craze, unless I hear a song I HAVE to write about. I have one more up my sleeve, I started it, but stopped to write this because it was bugging me. Anyways, let me know what you think. This was really a get to know how Troy and Gabriella work kind of thing, and how they view school and the school views them. I love you guys and thanks for your patience with me! If you have suggestions for any of my stories could you please PM me, especially Life at EHS, I reread the story again today, but still got nothing. I've got ideas for my other stories, but like I said, I need to spit this out first because it's bugging me!

Mollie XOXO


	2. Chapter 2: Weird and Strange

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 2: Weird and Strange

"I don't know why they find it thrilling to pick on me." Gabriella was complaining to her friends.

"Look Brie, they do it because they can." Taylor said, comfortingly putting a hand on her arm.

"Yeah, well I don't react to it. I don't give them any emotions to feed off of, that's usually what bullies find thrilling." Gabriella mumbled walking out A.P. Chemistry with her friends, ready for lunch.

"Who was bullying you?" Gabriella whipped around to be face to face with Troy Bolton.

"What?" she stuttered

"Someone was bothering you. I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but I heard you say that. Who was it?" he asked, there was genuine concern in his eyes and voice.

"No one, it doesn't matter." She mumbled, trying to catch up with her friends who had left her with Troy.

Troy grabbed her arm gently, "No it does matter. I don't like bullying and if it was my friends then I want to know, and if it wasn't then I still want to know. Come on Gabriella, just tell me." He pleaded with her.

"You, the Troy Bolton," there was a hint of sarcasm in her voice, "know my name?" she asked

"You seem surprised, we have most of the same classes. I mean we take different languages and we have different A.P. math's, but other than that, we have the same schedule. How could I not notice you?" it was a rhetorical question.

"I don't know, maybe the way the rest of the school doesn't." she thought she got out of the conversation.

"Not so fast." He grabbed her by the waist before she could walk away.

"Fine, it was your posse, happy now?" she asked, walking away. She stormed into the cafeteria with her lunch, "You left me with him." She hissed at her friends

"Oh come on Gabs, it's not like it was that bad. He wanted to help." Kelsi scolded her

"And you couldn't have waited?" she asked

"Sorry." They mumbled, Gabriella groaned when Troy walked into the cafeteria, this was only going to increase the bullying and she knew it.

Troy stormed up to his table and threw his lunch down. "Sit down Troysie." Helen cooed, patting the seat next to her.

"Back off." He bellowed. The table fell silent. "Let's have a little discussion." They all knew what was coming. "About bullying." They sighed, the lecture. "A little birdy told me that you were bullying some people this morning." By now the entire cafeteria was watching and listening intently.

"And who would this 'little birdy' be?" Sharpay asked, standing and matching his tone. She was the only one that wasn't afraid to completely cross him.

"That is irrelevant. What IS relevant is who you people are torturing." Troy yelled

Inwardly Gabriella flinched, but outwardly she showed no emotion. She should've known better, someone was going to figure this out.

"Look Troy," Chad said, "if we did it was because they deserved it."

"No one deserves to be picked on, and I heard that this person never does anything to any of you. So what's the excuse now?" Troy asked, glancing at every person at the table.

"Look baby," Helen wrapped her arms around his waist, "everyone else is below us anyhow, so why does it matter?"

Troy threw her arms off of him, "When will you people learn? NO ONE IN THIS SCHOOL IS ABOVE OR BELOW ANYONE ELSE! CAN'T YOU SEE THAT WE'RE ALL REALLY EQUAL!" he yelled

"Well in the real world," Chad started

"No in the real world these cliques don't exist. So that is a really bad answer." He picked up his lunch and turned around, "Leave people alone, no one deserves to be picked on." Troy said storming out of the cafeteria. His friends sat there silently. The cafeteria went back to it's usual chatter.

Gabriella sighed as she shut her locker for the final time that day. She walked into the chemistry lab and the practice for the decathlon. She smiled, a real smile, thinking about Troy. As much as she didn't want him to, it felt good to have someone beat up the people that made her hate life, even if it wasn't for her, but just something he naturally did. He was a good guy from what she could see. But she refused to let herself get wrapped up in thinking about him. It wasn't worth it.

Troy shut his locker and made his way to the guys locker room to get ready for basketball tryouts. He was really excited, this was one of his favorite days of the school year. The only thing bringing him down this year was that his friends were bullying Gabriella Montez. There was always something about her. Maybe it had something with her quiet and sad nature. She didn't seem to enjoy life. He sighed and shook his head, he wasn't going wrap his mind around a girl, he never liked to distract himself with something he could be guaranteed would work out.

Gabriella walked into her room. It was 5 and they were meeting at Claire's house at 6:30. "Well I'll just be late." She smiled as she changed and put on running shoes. She grabbed her keys and iPhone, putting on some upbeat music, ready to run for an hour or so.

Troy walked in his house at 5:15. He'd had a huge fight with Chad in the locker room. "I need to run, it clears my head." He grabbed his discarded keys and iPhone, putting music on as he left his house again to go for the second run in a day.

Running down towards the beach, Gabriella could feel all the pressures coming off of her shoulders. Once she reached the beach she stopped, just to breathe and take in the view. She smiled, it really was beautiful here. She walked out to the boardwalk, "screw the sleepover" she thought, taking off her shoes and walking to the water's edge.

Troy ran until her got to the beach, a figure in the distance had caught his eye. He followed her lead, discarding his running shoes and followed her down to the water. He smiled when he saw it was indeed Gabriella, "Everything go okay after lunch?"

She jumped, surprised to see him, "Troy?" she asked in disbelief "What are you doing here?" she asked

"I went for a run to clear my mind. You?" he smiled at her

"Same, and yeah, no one bothered me. Thank you." She smiled, turning her gaze back to the jumping dolphins.

"They're amazing creatures, aren't they?" Troy commented following her gaze.

"They really are…" she smiled, guys didn't usually talk like that. Suddenly her phone went off. She groaned, it's going to Claire, she checked the caller id, sure enough it was. "Hello?"

"Gabriella Elizabeth Montez, you said you were coming. Where are you?" Claire screamed so clearly that Troy could hear. He chuckled softly.

"Look, I am coming, I'm just going to be late." She lamely said

"Where are you?" it was Taylor.

She groaned, "Does it matter?" there was silence, "I'll be there when I'm there." She ended the call and began rubbing her temples.

"Friends tough?" Troy asked

"They're great they just…" she didn't know how to explain it, she didn't know why she was trying.

"Don't get it. They don't see or understand the real you?" Troy asked, never removing his eyes from the ocean.

"And they don't seem to care or want to." She whispered

"Know what you mean." Troy said with a smile.

Gabriella returned it, "I should go." She said, turning to go to the boardwalk.

"Mind if I run with you?" he asked hopefully. She nodded and they ran back, splitting off about a block away from their houses.

"That was weird." Gabriella thought, entering her house.

"That was different." Troy thought, tossing his keys on the kitchen counter.

AN: Chapter 2! Yay! Review!

Mollie XOXO


	3. Chapter 3: One Hell of a Day

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 3: One Hell of a Day

The next Monday Gabriella reluctantly got out of bed. "This week's going to suck." She mumbled as she made her way to her little sister's room. She tossed a glance at the clock, 3 AM?! Her parents went to her grandmother's house in Boston for the week, she was having heart surgery. Gabriella and Erin were staying home alone, a nanny would show up at 6:45, around the time Gabriella left for school, to watch Erin for the day.

Once Erin was back asleep Gabriella trudged down to her own room for about two and a half hours more of sleep. At 6, her alarm went off. She checked on Erin, she was sleeping soundly. Gabriella sighed as she got in the shower and got dressed. When she was just finishing up Erin began crying loudly again.

At 6:45 the nanny showed up and by 7, Gabriella was out the door headed for school. She parked her car and groaned, she was so tired. She walked in, completely unaware of her surroundings. When Chad called out to her she didn't even hear.

"She ignored you!" Sharpay screeched. The group made their way to her locker.

Gabriella was putting her stuff away when she was surrounded. "You don't ignore me woman." Chad growled in her ear.

She jumped, "Sorry, I guess I didn't hear you." She mumbled.

"That's not an excuse." Helen said, giving a slight tug at her hair.

"What's going on here?" It was Troy. Gabriella sighed, she didn't know if it was in relief or exhaustion. She slammed her locker shut and walked away, sure they wouldn't follow her, but unsure whether or not Troy would.

Troy watched her retreating figure. She looked exhausted. "What was going on?" he repeated

"She ignored me when I called out her name." Chad shrugged like it was no big deal.

"Then her mind is on things other than you. Believe it or not the earth does not revolve around you. Just because she didn't hear you doesn't mean you surround her." Troy yelled. His friends sighed and let it drop. It was too early for this conversation.

The day went by slowly and uneventfully. Gabriella tried not to fall asleep in her classes, having the baby to deal with was too much. She was used to the crying, but she'd never had to deal with it in the morning, now she understood where her parents came from.

Sitting in English class with Mr. Valentine, taking ANOTHER horrible test, she thought again of how Troy had saved her ass two times. "And in two school days" she mused.

The door to the classroom opened revealing Principal Matusi and two police officers, "Gabriella Montez." She looked up, confused. What on earth could she had done. "You might want to collect your things Ms. Montez." The taller one told her. She nodded and gathered up her books. Her friends tossed her worried glances as she made her way out the classroom door.

"Do you know these people?" The taller officer showed her two pictures, they were her parent's drivers' licenses.

She nodded vigorously, "They're my parents: Greg and Isabella Montez." She looked between the two, and then at Principal Matusi. "What's going on here?" she asked worriedly.

The shorter officer answered, "There was a plane crash. From Houston to Boston. Your parents were on the flight passenger manifest." He sighed desolately looking at the look of fear and recognition as to what he was about to say, "I'm afraid they both died. There were no survivors."

Gabriella stared at the three men for a few minutes. Just stared through them really, trying to wrap her brain around what had just been told to her. She took a breath, "What's going to happen now?" she whispered

"We've already spoken with the D.A." the taller officer said, "since you're 18 you can live on your own, you're not a minor anymore, and if you want, you can have custody of your little sister, or you can give her up for adoption." He sighed looking at the petite girl whose world had just come crashing down around her feet.

She nodded mutely, "I'm going home." She said, it wasn't a request, it was a statement. Mr. Matusi nodded. She went to her locker and put her books away, "Screw homework" she mumbled. And walked to the parking lot.

When she got home she told the nanny what happened. Mrs. Shepard, who had babysat for Gabriella when she was young, nodded her understanding, "What I guess I'm trying to say is, how would you feel about doing this permanently?" Gabriella nervously asked

"I'd love to Gabby my dear. I love Erin so very much. And you definitely need it. If you need me to take her for a few days I can too." Gabriella shook her head no to this, "And if you need help with the funeral and such, let me know."

"That I will take you up on. They have no bodies, they all burned so, yeah." She finished lamely.

"Fine, now you go take a shower and a nap." I'll watch Erin.

"I'm actually going to go for a run." Mrs. Shepard nodded and Gabriella went to change. 10 minutes later her feet were pounding on the pavement, headed towards the beach, her little piece of heaven on earth. She glanced down at her phone. 3:45, "phone calls should start coming in soon." She mumbled. Sure enough her phone rang, it was Claire. She ignored it and began the run home, turning her phone off and just letting the music flow through her body.

When she got home she smiled at Mrs. Shepard, "Phone's been ringing off the hook, but I'm not answering unless it's the police or something I decided. It's probably your friends all concerned." She smiled sympathetically.

"I'm going to shower quickly, then maybe we can talk for a while?" Gabriella asked hopefully. Mrs. Shepard nodded and Gabriella headed up to her bathroom. 30 minutes later she was bustling about the kitchen fixing herself and Mrs. Shepard dinner, while she fed Erin.

"So talk to me about planning funerals." Gabriella asked in a soft voice.

Mrs. Shepard nodded and began talking as she burped the baby. Gabriella took notes on what she was saying before taking Erin upstairs for her bath and putting her to bed. 15 minutes later she and Mrs. Shepard were eating and talking.

"It'll all sort itself out, and I'm sure your friends will be very supportive. Just let me know if you need anything." Gabriella nodded and walked her out, "I'll see you tomorrow dear." Gabriella nodded and went back into the kitchen. After cleaning up she headed upstairs. Taking all the phones off the hook, she went to bed. It had been one hell of a day.

Review!

Mollie XOXO


	4. Chapter 4: No I'm Sorry

Disclaimer: I own nothing

AN: There was a tiny bit of confusion, and it could just be with the education systems being different in the U.S. and in Europe. In the U.S. (where I'm from, which is why it's this way…), being a senior means 18, so Gabriella, Troy, Sharpay, Chad, etc…are all 18 years old, meaning that they are no longer minors, but legal and can live on their own legally…on to the story now

Chapter 4: No I'm Sorry

Gabriella got up and got ready for school. She wasn't sure why she was going in, but she felt she had to. At 6:45, like clockwork, Mrs. Shepard showed up.

"Dear, maybe you should take the day off." She suggested kindly.

"No, I need to go in. I need to clear my head today, be distracted and not reminded of all of this for a few hours before we get everything settled." Mrs. Shepard nodded her goodbye as Gabriella went flying out of the house.

She walked into school, trying to ignore what everyone was saying. Some knew what had happened, gossip spreads like wildfire through Albuquerque, others had no idea.

"If it isn't the little delinquent. What did daddy bail you our already?" Helen asked as she passed the group of friends. Choosing to ignore her, she made her way to her locker, where her own friends were impatiently waiting for her.

"Gabriella Elizabeth Montez we tried calling you a THOUSAND times last night." Kelsi raged

Gabriella nodded, "Sorry." She mumbled

"Sorry? Sorry? You get led out of English class by the police and then don't explain and all you can say is 'sorry'?" Taylor yelled

Gabriella turned to look at them, "Back off. Just stop it. My parents are dead. Are you happy? Is your curiosity satisfied? They're gone and Erin and I are left all alone." She slammed her locker shut as the bell rang and made her way to her classes.

Troy watched the scene from his locker, where he and his friends were, he'd heard it all. "Dead?" he shook his head sadly. The next year or so would be tough for the girl.

Mr. Whitehead, the A.P. Government teacher slowly made his way around the room collecting the homework. Gabriella flinched when he got to her, "And why don't we have our homework Ms. Montez?" "did he always have to make such a God damn deal about homework?" Gabriella asked herself.

She mustered up a small smile before saying, "I found at last night that both of my parents died in a plane crash, and that I now get to raise my 13 month old sister by myself. Let's just say that homework didn't even make my priority list last night."

Troy chuckled softly, watching her stand up for herself was a sight for sore eyes. Mr. Whitehead looked slightly flustered, "I'm very sorry Ms. Montez, if you need anything don't hesitate to ask." He moved past her.

"Yeah right, like I'd ever go to you, creepy old man." She grumbled.

Troy watched her throughout the morning. She hadn't looked like she'd accepted it, talked about it, or even cried. Sitting in his math class he decided he should probably make sure she's okay, at least given the circumstances. Jotting a quick note to Gabriella he exited the classroom as the bell rang. He slipped it in her locker before going to his own and grabbing his Chemistry books.

Gabriella opened her locker to deposit her Spanish books. As she was getting her Chemistry stuff out, she noticed a piece of paper. Opening it she gasped at what she read.

"Gabriella,

I was wondering if you would meet me in the science club's rooftop garden during lunch? I heard what happened and wanted to make sure you're okay. Hopefully I'll see you then, if not, well, I will see in class.

Troy"

Smiling she shut her locker and walked into Chemistry. While Mr. Davis was going on about one thing or another Gabriella cocked her head to the side so Troy could see her face. They made eye contact fairly quickly and she gently nodded her head, silently telling him that she'd meet him at lunch.

Ryan was the only one that seemed to notice the communication between the two. "What is that all about?" he wondered to himself.

After class Gabriella walked to her locker, finding her friends there. "I have to see a teacher. I'll be late to lunch, go ahead without me." She smiled to them, picking up her lunch and walking off towards the science department.

"Guys, I've gotta talk to a teacher, but I'll see you later." Troy was telling his friends.

"Want me to come Troykins?" Helen asked batting her eyelashes

"Don't call me 'Troykins' and no I don't want anyone to come, I'm capable of handling myself." He walked off towards the science rooms.

Troy let himself into the rooftop garden and saw her leaning on the railing. "Hey." He said softly.

She turned around and gave him a small smile, "Trouble getting away from Parker?" she asked

Troy groaned, "She won't leave me alone." He whined.

Gabriella laughed, "Well that's what you get for being the Golden Boy."

"I didn't ask to be." He mumbled, "Okay, how are you doing?" he asked, his tone changing to one of complete and utter concern.

She smiled, "Been better." She laughed

Troy walked over to stand next to her. He was so close he could feel her body heat radiating off of her. "Never would have guessed." He smiled back, "If you need any help with anything, arrangements for the funerals or whatever, don't hesitate to ask me." He whispered.

"Thanks Troy, that's sweet. Mrs. Shepard's helping me. She's Erin's nanny. Great older lady, watched me when I was little." Gabriella frowned, "Poor Erin won't even remember them. That really bothers me." She sighed, it was desolate sigh, full of sadness.

"It'll all work out in the end though, it always does." Troy said, she nodded as tears welled up in her eyes. He pulled her into a hug and at the contact she began to sob in his arms. Picking her up he carried her to the bench. He sat her down on his lap, just rocking her back and forth gently, until her tears subsided.

She looked around the room at all the plants and pushed herself off of his lap. She picked up a watering can and began to water the plants. He watched in amusement as she busied herself. When that was done she picked up a small trash bag and began weeding some of them that needed it. When that was done she looked around helplessly. "There's nothing left to do." She looked at Troy, looking for a distraction.

"Nope, there's nothing left to do." He whispered, hugging her again. She sighed at the contact, it felt good, there was no patronizing, or 'I'm sorry' with Troy, just help, and belief that it will get easier. The bell rang, lunch was over. They parted ways as she went to the library for free period and he went to his free period workout.

Review!!

Mollie XOXO


	5. Chapter 5: Dying to Breathe

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 5: Dying to Breathe

"Well, that's everything dear." Mrs. Shepard said, "Are you sure you don't want a wake?" she asked again.

Gabriella nodded her head certainly, "I'm sure, I don't think I could handle everyone being here. Not after it's all over." She sighed.

Two days later it came, the funeral. Gabriella and Troy hadn't talked since their rooftop garden meeting, but he'd constantly made sure she was okay. She smiled, everyday in different classes he would ask her if she was okay with his eyes, and everyday she would reply 'fine' with her own eyes.

Ryan and Sharpay Evans entered the church where the service for Mr. and Mrs. Montez would take place. Over the last few days Sharpay had a little talk with Chad and Helen. Surprisingly she didn't want to pick on Gabriella anymore.

"It's not right." She scolded them, "She's done nothing wrong whatsoever. And now look at her!" she demanded. The looked, Gabriella looked ready to cry. Troy watched from a distance, he smiled, Sharpay was doing what he had been about ready to do to Helen and Chad, "She just lost both of her parents. We're done picking on her. Find someone else." She hissed, unlike Troy, Sharpay scared the shit out of people. She was, though, known as the Ice Queen.

As Ryan sat quietly down in the back row, next to his sister he noticed a familiar figure up near the front, "Is that Troy?" he asked himself. Sharpay didn't seem to notice and Ryan refrained from commenting on it as the service began.

The morning of the funeral Mrs. Shepard came over to help make sure everything was okay. Once they were set they headed to the church. They got there before everyone else and watched from the back as it filled up. Soon the service began. Claire walked in with Gabriella, Mrs. Shepard and Erin. When they sat down, Gabriella took Erin in her own arms, wanting the comfort of having her there. She didn't pay any attention to the service. She didn't hear the Eulogy, she couldn't. She felt like she was dying to breathe.

Erin began crying and Mrs. Shepard gently pried her out of Gabriella's grasp, carrying her out the side door. When the service was over, Gabriella was supposed to walk out, Mrs. Shepard and Erin hadn't returned.

Giving Gabriella a small smile, Claire hooked arms with her and escorted her out of the church, to her car, where they would go to the burial. Claire and Taylor sat on either side of Gabriella. Kelsi sat next to Taylor, they sat in the front row, Mrs. Shepard decided it would be best to sit in the back with Erin, since she was coming in and out of sleeping and crying. "She knows something is wrong." Mrs. Shepard commented to Gabriella and her friends before she went to take her seat.

After the burial was over people began to disperse. "We're going sweetie, but we'll call you tonight." Claire gave Gabriella a little peck on the forehead.

"We're really sorry Brie." Kelsi said as the three left.

"Yeah, sorry, everyone's sorry." Gabriella mumbled as Mrs. Shepard walked up with Erin.

"I'm going to take her home honey. She needs to be in her bed now." Gabriella nodded mutely as Mrs. Shepard hugged her and walked away.

Ryan watched as Troy stood in the back, away from everyone, like he was waiting for them all to leave. His sister was socializing, what else is knew though.

"Ryan, let's get out of here." Sharpay said, linking arms with her brother. He nodded as they left, the last of the people. Well, except for Troy and Gabriella. As they walked away he watched silently as Troy walked over to her. She was standing next to the graves.

"I wonder what's going on with them?" Ryan asked himself.

Troy walked over next to Gabriella, he hadn't paid much attention to the services, he'd watched her. She looked ready to break at any point, but not because of how sweet or sentimental the services had been, she looked dead through them both, not registering that they were happening.

She looked over at him once she felt his presence. "How you holding up?" he asked her.

She looked at him, her eyes begging for help from the endless hell she'd been living in. He scooped her in a hug. They both fell to the ground as she collapsed in tears. He pulled her onto his lap, gently rocking her and whispering comforting words in her ear. 15 minutes later they got up from the ground and brushed themselves off.

"Need a ride home?" he asked, tucking a stray curl behind her ear. She nodded mutely and he guided her towards his car. They pulled up to her house and he went around to open her car door. He walked her up to her porch steps.

"Thank you Troy." She said, as she fished through her purse for her keys.

The door was suddenly opened by Mrs. Shepard, "Oh dear, I was getting worried. I realized you didn't have a ride, and you left your cell phone here. I was going to call Claire and see if she could run by and check. Oh hello son, I'm Mrs. Shepard." She introduced herself to Troy.

"Troy Bolton. It's okay, I was waiting on Ella, I knew she'd want to stay." He smiled and turned to Gabriella, "Hey, wanna go for a run? Down to the beach. I could be back here in 20 minutes ready to go."

Gabriella lifted her eyes from the ground, "Yeah, I'd like that Troy. See you in 20 minutes." He nodded and waved goodbye walking back to his car.

"Sweet boy." Mrs. Shepard smiled at Gabriella. She nodded her head and went to change.

20 minutes later Troy and Gabriella were running at a fast pace all the way to the beach. When they reached their destination they stopped and took a few deep breaths. They both paused their music and took off their shoes and socks, leaving them at the boardwalk. They walked down to the ocean's edge in silence, just enjoying the company.

"Talk to me." Troy said breaking the silence, "Tell me what's on your mind."

She looked up at him, then back out at the ocean. "I feel like…" she paused, a shark came into view and she smiled, even though it was a vicious creature, it was still graceful and beautiful. Kind of like life. "like I'm dying to breathe." She finished.

Troy nodded, "Anything you want to talk about?" he asked her.

She shook her head no and he smiled. They walked down the beach for a while, just enjoying how it felt to be away from the stress of the world.

"This is the one place that I can go to get away…" Troy said

"From the stress of the world." Gabriella finished. Troy nodded and smiled, she returned it. She'd never met anyone who understood her, or felt the need to try to.

He looked down at the petite brunette who'd just lost what she held closest to her, he never believed in true love, or in finding that one person that really understood you, and when they didn't, took the time to figure you out. "Dying to breathe…" he thought to himself. "I hope I can help her."

Review!!

Mollie XOXO


	6. Chapter 6: Thick and Thin

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 6: Thick and Thin

The next month was tough for Gabriella. She and Troy hadn't really spoken since they went to the beach. They'd met in the rooftop garden once. It was on a day that she looked ready to collapse. The bullying had stopped, but Troy told her that was really thanks to Sharpay.

She'd been genuinely shocked, Sharpay was one of her LEAST favorite people in the world.

Gabriella dumped the last box on the living room floor. Mrs. Shepard had Erin today. Claire came in from the kitchen with three bottles of water. "Taylor's on her way with the food." She said

"Thank you." Gabriella replied, "Thanks for helping me move guys." The girls had helped her pack up her house, helped her get rid of everything that needed to go, and had gone apartment hunting with her. They'd been incredible. But they still kept saying 'sorry'. She knew they meant well, but it just made it harder. Troy had NEVER once said "I'm sorry for your loss", he knew it didn't help, it only made it harder.

"No problemo." Kelsi replied with a grin as Gabriella groaned at the terrible Spanish.

"No problema Kelsi, with an 'a' not an 'o'." She scolded, Kelsi giggled and shook her head.

Taylor walked into the door, "I've got the sandwiches." She replied holding up the bags. The girls cheered and sat down on the sofa and chairs in the living room to eat.

Finally they all stood up and began moving the boxes to the correct rooms. Gabriella had put her house on the market and purchased a nice sized apartment. "There's no point in us taking up a whole house that we don't even fill up." She reasoned.

"This is really nice Gabby." Taylor said smiling, "And you're so brave. Just remember that we're here for you through thick and thin.'

"We've already been through thick, let's hope for some thin now." Gabriella laughed.

While they were unpacking there was a knock at the door. Gabriella opened it and found the cable guy. He hooked up the TVs and installed the internet. She wasn't having a phone put in, there was no use for one when she had her cell phone. An hour later he was gone and most everything was put away. Gabriella looked at the clock and saw that she still had three hours before Mrs. Shepard showed up.

"Girls, I'm going to pick the extra key up from the hardware shop for Mrs. Shepard and go grocery shopping. I hate to kick ya'll out." She fretted

"No worries, we'll call you tonight." They turned off the lights and locked the door, walking out into the cool November afternoon.

2 hours and 45 minutes later the groceries were in the fridge and the extra key was sitting on the counter. Gabriella sighed as she began putting away the rest of their belongings when there was a knock at the door. Opening it she found Mrs. Shepard and Erin, who was fast asleep.

"Thank you so much." Gabriella told the woman, taking Erin from her and putting her in her crib.

After talking for 30 minutes Mrs. Shepard left with the key in her hand and a promise to be back the next morning at 6:45 to watch Erin for the day as usual. Gabriella decided to jump in the shower and in 45 minutes was standing once again in the kitchen making dinner. She'd grown tired of frozen food and peanut butter sandwiches very quickly and had dug her mother's cookbook out, that she had put together herself, and was teaching herself how to cook. It was time consuming, but worth every bit of it.

At 8:30 she crawled into bed, ready for school the next day. "Thanksgiving might not have been the same, but it sure was nice not being around school." She smiled to herself. Tomorrow was December 1, the first day of the best month of the year.

AN: Okay, this is pathetically short, but it needed to be. There was really nothing to say in it, and it had to come before the next chapter, but it couldn't come with it, but it's okay because now I'm going to write the next chapter so you all can enjoy!

Mollie XOXO (see I didn't even ask for reviews since it was so short!)


	7. Chapter 7: Something's Definitely Up

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 7: Something's Definitely Up

Troy rolled over and shut his alarm off. He got dressed and went for his morning run. Runs weren't the same with out Gabriella. He was wondering how she was doing, the truth was, he really missed her. But he didn't dwell on that today, like he normally did. He had a bad feeling about today. Maybe it was just that Dylan was leaving to head back to UCLA for school again, and the house would once again go dead.

He walked up to his room and got in the shower. Coming back downstairs 30 minutes later everyone was waiting on him.

"Dude, I'm gonna miss you." Dylan gave his little brother a hug.

"You have no idea Dyl, the house is dead without you around here." Troy laughed. 20 minutes later he had to head out to school. He got there and parked. Going in this feeling never left him. Something bad was going to happen, he just couldn't put his finger on what it was.

His friends were standing at his locker when he showed up, he smiled realizing he'd heard nothing about their bullying. He looked down the hall and saw Gabriella laughing with her friends. Laughing, that was a beautiful sight. And a musical sound.

The bell rang and school officially began. He sighed, waiting for the bad. He assumed he'd forgotten about a homework assignment, a quiz, or a test. He just couldn't figure it out, so he decided to let it go.

Gabriella laughed as she made her way to homeroom. Even though she was laughing, she felt like something bad was going to happen. Not to her, but to someone she cared about. Her mind flew to Erin. She hoped that nothing bad would happen to her today.

Finally the day came to a close. Troy sighed as he got changed for basketball, nothing bad had happened during school.

"Dude, you okay? You've been sighing a lot today." It was Ryan. Ryan was his real best friend, at least in his mind. He trusted Ryan and respected him.

"Something bad's going to happen today. I just don't know what or when." Troy replied, lacing up his basketball shoes.

Ryan nodded and the team made their way to the gym. They all went and sat on the bleachers when they saw that Coach Bolton wasn't there. "Where's coach Troy?" Chad asked

"Don't know." Troy said uneasily. After 15 minutes Jack Bolton still had not shown up. Troy stood up, ready to initiate practice himself when the gym doors flew open. All eyes turned to see an older man that was like Troy's twin.

"Uncle Mike, where's dad?" Troy asked, running up to his mom's brother.

Mike Taylor looked uneasily at Troy, he was going to take this hard. "At the hospital."

"What why?" The gym erupted into chaos.

"Dylan was in a car crash on his way to the airport." Troy froze, Dylan? No not Dylan, not his brother Dylan. Troy ran to the locker room and grabbed his stuff. Sprinting back through the gym to his car, the basketball team hot on his heels, as Chad called the rest of their friends.

Troy sprinted inside, "Dylan Bolton." The nurse looked at him.

"Family only, sorry hone." She replied turning around.

"Hey lady, he's my brother and if you don't tell me I'll just go in and out of every last fucking door until I find him."

The nurse turned around. " Room 2601, 6th floor." Troy nodded his thanks running to the elevator. He pressed the button for the 6th floor and willed the elevator to move faster. Instead it stopped at every floor along the way.

Finally it opened at his destination and he sprinted down the halls until he came across the room he was looking for. He opened the door and gasped at the sight in front of him. His mom was crying on his father's lap. His aunt was wearily leaning against the wall looking out the window, and Dylan, he was in a coma. He looked like he'd been to hell and back. Everyone looked up when he entered.

His mother flew to his side and whispered comforting things in his ear that he didn't want to hear right now. Right now he wanted to know how bad it was. "Stop mom. I don't want that now. I want to know how bad it is."

Jack stood up and walked over, he looked 10 years older than he was from all the crying and stress of the day, "He's in a coma. A drunk ran him into a telephone pole on the highway. He'd been drinking all night and well into the day. He's lost a lot of blood and there might be paralysis in his legs, and if, when, he wakes up, there's a good possibility of brain damage."

Troy gaped at his brother, his best friend, the person he cherished the most. It hit Troy at that moment, Dylan was going to die. God wasn't going to put him through hell on earth if he woke up, no he was going to die.

The door burst open and his uncle and friends came sprinting in.

"Troy are you okay?" Sharpay was at his side in an instant. He nodded mutely.

"Oh Troykins, everything is going to be okay. Helen will make it all better." Helen said, giving him a peck on the cheek. Troy looked at Ryan for help, but Ryan just gagged.

30 minutes later everyone left except for Ryan and Sharpay. They hung around, just chatting, trying to distract Troy until they decided it wasn't working.

"Troy we're going to go. But we'll come by tomorrow." Sharpay said. Troy stood up and walked them to the door.

"Thanks guys." He said, he hugged Shar, and she gave him a peck on the cheek. Ryan gave him a hug.

"No kiss from me man." Troy laughed at Ryan's antics.

"Much appreciated." Troy replied. Once they were gone his aunt and uncle decided to go home to get some rest.

"Troy," his mother said, "I think we should go home too, there's nothing we can do here."

Troy looked up, "I don't wanna leave just yet."

His dad nodded, "That's fine, call us when you leave." They walked out silently. "How long do you think he'll be here for?" Jack asked his wife when they were safely down the hallway.

"I don't know. But he's going to be beating himself up over this." Diane said quietly.

EARLY THAT SAME DAY

After school Gabriella called Mrs. Shepard. "Hello."

"Mrs. Shepard, it's Gabriella." She greeted her nanny.

"Hello dear, is everything okay?" Mrs. Shepard was worried about her, Gabriella looked flustered this morning.

"Um, I think I'm going to run on one of the treadmills in the work out room. So is it okay if I'm home in a couple of hours or do have somewhere you need to be. I don't want to inconvenience you." Gabriella rambled on.

"Oh, honey it's no bother whatsoever. Go for a run, clear that pretty head of yours." The two said goodbye and Gabriella walked out to her car to grab her bag with running clothes in them. She went to the bathroom and changed before heading up to the work out room. She got on a treadmill and began running. After a while she stopped. She looked at her reflection in the mirror and decided that she needed to go home and sleep, not run. Grabbing her bag she walked back downstairs.

As she went into the bathroom to change she saw an older gentleman that looked like an exact replica of Troy. She shook her head, she'd been thinking of him too much she decided.

When she came out she saw the entire basketball team coming out, they were all talking really fast. She caught Chad's conversation with Sharpay on the phone.

"He's in the hospital. Troy sprinted out of here….well you know how close he and Dylan are…Sharpay, look we're all going to the hospital…Troy was freaked…we'll meet you there." He hung up.

"There was the feeling." Gabriella mumbled running to her car.

And that's how she ended up here, walking down the hospital hallway with Erin in tow. Thankfully she was asleep in her baby carrier. Gabriella walked up to the nurses station, "Dylan Bolton. Is it too late to visit?" Gabriella asked

"No sweetie, the Bolton's told us to let whoever in whenever. He's in room 2601 on the 6th floor. I think his brother is still in there." Gabriella thanked the lady and walked to the elevator. Once she reached the sixth floor she made her way down the hallway until she found the room.

Gabriella quietly opened the door and found Troy sitting in a chair next to the hospital bed with his head in his hands. He hadn't seen her enter, quietly she sat in the chair next to his, putting Erin at her feet. Gently she pried one of his hands off of his head and took it in her own.

He looked up, slightly surprised to see her, but another part of him almost expected to see her in the next couple of days. He gave her a smile as she rubbed his hand soothingly. They sat like that for 20 minutes, not saying a word, just sitting and watching Dylan. Suddenly the silence was broken by Erin.

Reluctantly Gabriella let go of Troy's hand and bent down picking Erin up. As soon as she did Troy held out his hands. Gabriella didn't hesitate, she handed the baby to Troy. Troy stood up and began walking around the room, as if holding the baby was soothing his own fears about losing his brother. Gabriella watched, fascinated as he got Erin quiet, and was now talking to her as she gurgled at him happily. Getting up from her chair she walked over to Troy, carefully taking a once again sleeping Erin from him and replacing her to her carrier.

As she did this she grabbed a piece of paper from her bag, walking back over to the window, where Troy was standing, she placed it in his hand. "It's my number and new address. Don't hesitate to call if you need anything or someone to talk to. And please feel free to come by if you need somewhere to run to, we've got room." She smiled at him.

He nodded, "Thanks Ella." He said, returning a small smile. She leaned up and gave him a small kiss on the cheek.

"Call me if his condition changes, let me know what happens. How bad is it?"

"Bad." Was the response.

She nodded, knowing that he didn't really want to talk, "Night Troy."

"Good night Ella, give Erin a kiss for me." Gabriella nodded and made her way out.

When the elevator arrived Ryan Evans stepped out. She nodded to him and he said a simple 'hello' as he made his way down to Dylan's room with a bag of take out in his hand.

"Okay, something is DEFINITELY up if she came here. I think I'll see if Troy tells me anything, but keep it to myself, I don't want to cause anything." Ryan mumbled walking into the room again, to see if he could get Troy to eat anything and then maybe go home to get a good nights rest.

Review!!

Mollie XOXO


	8. Chapter 8: Chocolate and Time Cure All

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 8: Chocolate and Time Cure All

Troy went sprinting up the steps, looking for the right door. Number 20, he'd found it. He began to bang on the door, he needed to get away, to get inside that room.

Gabriella was in the kitchen cooking a lasagna while Erin was playing in her play pin in the living room. Humming to herself happily until there was a banging at the door. Erin stopped playing and watched as Gabriella cautiously opened the door. There stood Troy Bolton.

She held the door open wide as he walked in, she knew what had happened. She knew the moment she saw him. Dylan had died. She took his hand and led him to the sofa, softly pushing him down. She wiped her hands off on her apron and sat down next to him. He looked at her, begging for her to make the unbearable pain stop.

She sighed as she hugged him, rubbing his back in soothing circles. He cried into her hair, letting it all out for the first time. Not that he'd had the news that long.

FLASHBACK (haha flashback within a flashback, that's funny…sorry)

The gang was sitting outside the Bolton home. The boys were shooting hoops, playing a little 3 on 2, while the girls were tanning by the pool. Diane and Jack were at the hospital, the doctor was going to talk to them more about Dylan's condition.

Suddenly the back door opened, Jack came out. His face held a somber look. Troy walked over. "What'd the doctor say?"

"I'm so sorry Troy." Jack's voice was hoarse, "Dylan died when we got there." Everyone surrounded Troy and Helen wrapped her arms around him, but he didn't want to feel HER arms. He pushed them all away.

"I've gotta go." Troy said

"Where?" Jack asked, not at all upset, he knew this was tough, he just didn't want Troy to do something stupid.

"A friends." He mumbled

"But we're your friends." Helen said upset

"Let him go, he's probably just going to drive around and try to clear his head." Ryan said, getting the gang to leave.

END OF FLASHBACK

His sobs stopped and they sat there quietly, wrapped in each others arms. Finally he pulled away. "When did he die?" Gabriella whispered

"Not too long ago, I ran here as soon as I found out." He said. "Sorry if I'm imposing."

"Troy, you're always welcome here." She smiled, "You wanna stay for dinner, I'm making lasagna." She smiled up at him.

"I'd like that." He said. She nodded and got up making her way back into the kitchen.

"Turn the TV on Troy, make yourself at home." Gabriella called out. Troy must have heard this because the TV was turned on. His cell phone went off. He looked at the caller id and saw Chad's name, he decided to ignore the call.

15 minutes later Gabriella came back into the room with a bottle and a plate of lasagna, "You look starving. Eat." She picked Erin up out of the crib and fed her while Troy ate. They watched the news together until Gabriella got up, "I'm going to bathe Erin, I'll be back in about 15 minutes." He nodded and she went into Erin's room.

Sure enough 15 minutes later Gabriella came out and found Troy with a plate of lasagna laid out for her. She smiled and sat next to him as she ate. Once she was done they cleaned up the kitchen together. She looked at the clock 8:45.

"You can stay here if you want to Troy." She offered

"Really?" he asked hopefully

"Yeah, the couch pulls out into a bed, it's the best that I can offer, but…"

"It's great Ella, thank you." Troy said, "I've got a gym bag in my car, I'll just go get it."

When he came back in Gabriella was putting fresh sheets on the bed. They sat together in the living room for about 30 more minutes talking until Gabriella said she was going to turn in. "Mrs. Shepard will be here at 6:45 tomorrow morning." She warned him. He nodded and she went to bed.

At 1 in the morning Gabriella stumbled out of bed at the sound of Erin's cries. When she reached her room they had ceased and she was shocked to hear soft singing as well. She opened the door slightly and saw Troy walking around with Erin, singing to her. She smiled and watched them interact for a while, until he finally laid her back down. He jumped when he saw her standing in the doorway.

She walked out into the living room, "You didn't have to wake up Troy." She told him.

"You looked pretty tired and I wasn't sleeping anyhow, so I figured why not?" he smiled at her

"I didn't know you could sing." She commented with a grin

"No one knows, but Dylan." He said with a frown.

Gabriella's eyes lit up, "Go to my room, I'll be right there." He looked confused, but she just ushered him to the door. Reluctantly he went inside. 5 minutes later she came in with two glasses of water and a piece of homemade chocolate cake with two forks.

"Nothing cures pain like chocolate and time." She grinned sitting on the bed next to Troy. He laughed and nodded his head. She handed him a glass of water and a fork. Together they ate the cake and talked. "Tell me about him." Gabriella asked.

He nodded and began to tell her all about Dylan. "There was this one time that we decided we didn't want to eat vegetables anymore. So every time our mom would put them on our plate we'd wait until our parents weren't looking and force feed our dog." He laughed, "Dylan's idea. Charlie got sick and wouldn't eat anything green after that though." Gabriella laughed with him. Soon the cake was finished. They both yawned.

Gabriella took the plate and forks and put them on her nightstand. Troy smiled at her, they were both snuggled into the warm bed, and he really didn't want to go back into the living room. Gabriella turned to him and laid her head on his chest as she shut off the light. Gently he wrapped an arm around Gabriella's waist as he turned the light out on the nightstand next to him. Gabriella knew that being alone in the living room wasn't going to help him get any sleep. So cuddled together they fell asleep.

At 6 the alarm went off and Gabriella quieted it as she and Troy got out of bed. She smiled, "If you want to shower you can either use mine or Erin's."

"I'll take Erin's you use yours." He said, Gabriella nodded as he placed a light good morning kiss on her lips. He walked out of the room and she sighed. At 6:30 they were both eating breakfast while Erin slept peacefully. 15 minutes later Mrs. Shepard arrived and the two said their goodbyes to her and Erin who had just woken up as they headed down to their cars.

"I'll see you later Ella. Thanks for last night." Troy said.

"No problem Troy, you're always welcome here." She replied, he nodded and she gave him a kiss on the cheek before stepping in her own car. The two drove to school and pulled into their assigned parking spots, which were a ways away from each other. When Gabriella walked into the school she saw Troy get swarmed by his friends.

She shook her head and made her way to her own locker. She glanced over at him and saw the look of agitation in his eyes. "Rooftop garden?" she mouthed. He nodded, "Lunch?" she mouthed again. Again he nodded. She smiled at him before turning to open up her locker.

With Troy, his friends were harassing him. "Troy Alexander Bolton you scared the hell out of us when you ran off." Sharpay was scolding him

"Yeah, and we're your friends, why couldn't you stay with us?" Helen asked

"Look I just needed to get out and clear my head, I went for a drive." He said

"That lasted ALL FUCKING NIGHT?" Chad asked

Troy stuttered, how did they know? Jason sensed his distress, "He came to my house last night and stayed in our guest room. Right Troy? Said you needed to not be at home." Troy looked relieved, he owed Jason big time.

"Yeah, home reminds me of Dylan and last night I didn't want that, so I ended up crashing at Jason's." Everyone nodded in agreement, even Ryan, though he knew that was bullshit. He'd talked to Jason on the phone the previous night, but he decided to let it drop because he knew where he'd been: Gabriella Montez's.

Review!!

Mollie XOXO


	9. Chapter 9: Who Knows

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 9: Who Knows

It was time, for the second time in one school year, Troy Bolton was going to a funeral. Only now it was for his brother. His own brother was going to be put in the ground. He groaned. The Bolton family was watching from the back of the church as it filled up.

"This must have been how Ella felt." Troy thought. He watched the people who entered the church intently. He was looking for her, she promised that she would be here. Where was she? A smile actually crossed his handsome face, Gabriella walked in carrying a baby carrier, Erin was with her.

Over the last few days, Troy had, had permission to skip basketball practice so he had gone home with Gabriella and spent time with her and Erin. He'd really grown to love the little baby, as well as Gabriella, well definitely Gabriella.

He watched as his 'friends' entered the church, he never had to explain to Jason where he was. Jason said he didn't want to know, he trusted Troy and if he ever needed an alibi, he could always come to Jason. He really was an amazing friend.

Suddenly Troy frowned, Ryan separated himself from the group.

IN THE CHURCH

"Guys, let's sit there." Sharpay pointed to a particular row near the front. Everyone agreed, then Ryan spotted something that interested him.

"I'm going to go to the bathroom." Everyone turned to look at him, "If I'm not back in time to slip up here I'll just stay in the back." They all rolled their eyes and proceeded forward as Ryan moved away from them.

He walked quietly over to a girl in the back row sitting on the end corner with a baby carrier. "Gabriella?" She jumped a good foot in the air at her name.

Whipping around she said, "Yes?" she managed to choke out.

"Can I sit here?" Ryan asked. She nodded mutely, "I don't think we've ever officially met. I'm Ryan Evans. Fondly known as Sharpay's poodle." He laughed.

Gabriella smiled, "Gabriella Montez."

"Oh I know who you are, you're the girl that's stolen the heart of the one and only Troy Bolton." Ryan replied with a smirk.

Gabriella immediately covered his mouth with her hands. "Please, don't say that aloud. No one knows, it would only create problems. I don't want to create problems for Troy. I don't want to make this any harder on him than it already is."

"Can I have my mouth back?" Ryan mumbled against her hand

"Oh sorry." Gabriella blushed as she removed her hand.

"Thank you." Ryan said with a smile, "First of all don't worry, my lips are sealed. Secondly, I figured this out a while ago." At her puzzled look he laughed and continued. "A. he protects you from the bullying. I know he does it for everyone, but he really pushed it for you. B. you two keep making eye contact, nodding your head and such. I know that it's an understanding that only you two have. C. I saw him at your parents' funeral and know that he stayed after the burial with you. D. I saw you coming out of Dylan's hospital room. E. I figured that he ran to your house when he found out Dylan died, so Jason and I have been covering for him, oh speak of the devil here comes Jason now."

"Hey dude, they wanted me to send you back when I went to the bathroom too." Jason laughed, taking the seat on the other side of Gabriella.

"Well, the line is ridiculous." Ryan laughed, Gabriella just stared at the guys…they knew? How did they know?

"Um okay, look I don't want to create any drama." Gabriella said

"Don't worry, we're not Helen Parker fans so to speak." Jason laughed, but quickly stopped when the procession began. The three sat quietly as the funeral went on.

Soon the Bolton's were leaving for the burial. The guests left to go to the graveyard as well. Gabriella once again chose a seat in the back, hoping to avoid detection. She tried to keep her mind on what was being said, but the only thing she could think about was that they knew. Did Troy know that they knew? Would they really not say anything?

She sighed and came back to reality when she noticed people were walking around talking. Wow, it was over already? Erin began crying. She picked her up out of the carrier and realized that it was time for her lunch. Pulling a bottle out of her baby bag she got ready and began feeding her.

Troy was standing next to his brother's grave, his friends were all around him. The only person he wanted was Gabriella, but he had to be patient and wait. Ryan came over, "You, me, and Jason will have a talk later, but don't worry, your secret is safe with us." Troy looked up, he was wondering when someone would catch on and he figured it'd be Ryan. He nodded and continued staring at the grave.

"Troy." Sharpay was gently shaking him, "Let's go to the wake, come on."

He shook his head, "You guys go, I'll see you there." Sharpay nodded and the friends left him.

His parents walked up, "Ready to go?" his dad asked

Troy shook his head again, "I'm going to a friends, I don't want to go to the wake."

"Okay Troy, that's fine, but I want to know who this friend is." His mother said.

Troy sighed and motioned for them to follow, the gang had left so it was safe. "Ella?"

Gabriella looked up and gave him a small smile, "How you holding up Wildcat?" she asked

Jack smiled, "So you're the friend Ms. Montez." Gabriella blushed slightly.

Mrs. Bolton frowned, "Is she yours?" she asked referring to the baby.

"I guess you could say that, she's my little sister Erin, our parents died about a month ago, so it's just us. Troy's been a Godsend though." Troy smiled, taking Erin from Gabriella and continuing to feed her.

"Please don't tell anyone about where I go." Troy looked at his parents.

They nodded, they knew about the cliques, they knew that it would cause unnecessary drama at a time when they didn't need it. "We'll see you when you get home son. Are you going to be staying over at Gabriella's?" Jack asked

Troy nodded, "Probably." He and Gabriella shared a small smile. When everyone left for the wake Gabriella figured it was time to drag Troy away from the grave.

"Come on." She coaxed. He shook his head, it was as if leaving was completely acknowledging Dylan was gone. "I've got chocolate cake." She told him. He still shook his head. Sighing she grabbed his hand and pulled him off the chair. "We're leaving. It's either that or you walk home Bolton. Take your pick." He saw she was serious and sighed in defeat.

Once they got home they set Erin up in the living room playing in her play pin, while they went to change in the bedroom. Troy opened up the drawer he'd claimed and pulled out a t-shirt and a pair of jeans. Gabriella handed him a couple of hangers and he hung his suit up. Gabriella hung her dress up.

"Troy?" she turned to face him, when he spun around the wind was knocked out of him by how incredible her body was. She was standing there in a black lace bra with matching panties. She smirked, he wasn't so bad looking either, in just his blue boxers.

"Yeah El?" he asked

"Ryan and Jason know. Ryan figured it out and I think he clued Jason in to save our asses." She looked down at the floor, embarrassed that Troy might be ashamed of having people know about her.

He walked over and lifted her chin up so she could look him in the eyes. "I know, Ryan told me at the burial. Don't worry they won't say a word until we're ready for them to. I promise. And I can't wait for the world to know about us, when we're both fully prepared to deal with the reaction, it'll be great." She smiled up at him.

He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her close to him. She smiled as she wove her arms around his neck, playing with his hair. He leaned down and captured her lips in a sweet kiss, which she eagerly responded to. They pulled away smiling. Erin began crying so they hurriedly got dressed.

Review!! There was the beginning of Troyella for all those dying for it!

Mollie XOXO


	10. A Quick Author's Note

A Quick Author's Note

I just wanted to explain to you guys what's going on in my head before I update.

A New Life is slowly coming to an end. I know it may not seem like it yet, but I'm guessing about six more chapters and then it's done.

I know I haven't been updating any stories except A New Life lately, but that's because I have I pretty much figured out in my head. So I'm not 100 percent positive yet, but I think I may finish that before I update another story.

I have some ideas for Learning to Breathe, The Return of the Wildcats, and In the Blink of an Eye swirling around my head right now. So, if I do other updates it'd be one of those stories.

Life at EHS is officially on hold. I'm not touching it until I finish off one of my stories, most likely A New Life. I think I have one too many stories taking up space in my small brain. I'm really sorry that Life at EHS is the one put on hold for those of you who really like the story, but I really have no idea what to do for it. If anyone had any ideas for that story please PM me and I'll save it until I update.

As for my oneshots. I've had people asking me when I was going to do another one. I have some songs I really like, but right now I'm focusing on my stories while the ideas are still there. Since I like doing song oneshots, I don't have to write when I think of them because the ideas will come crashing back to me every time I listen to the song. So, unless I get a request from someone with a particular song, I'm gonna hold off on oneshots.

I have ANOTHER story idea, but I'm definitely waiting until something is finished up here, most likely A New Life.

From looking at my stories A New Life should be the first one finished, then Runaway. After that it just depends.

If anyone has any ideas for any stories please feel free to PM me the ideas.

For those of you who actually took the time to read this, thank you!

Mollie XOXO


	11. Chapter 10: I Knew It

Disclaimer: I own nothing

RATED M FOR SC

Chapter 10: I Knew It

Gabriella sighed and rubbed her temples, A.P. Chemistry was way too hard tonight. Troy groaned and pushed his own chemistry book to the ground, they'd put Erin down an hour ago, so the apartment was silent. He smiled at Gabriella, she was trying to figure out the homework too. A mischievous glint occupied his ocean blue eyes as he leaned over to her side of the couch and grabbed her text book away.

"Hey! I was using that!" she protested with a pout.

Smiling he positioned himself over her and began to suck at her bottom lip, "You know it's really sexy when you pout." He mumbled as he began kissing down to her neck.

She moaned in pleasure when he hit her soft spot, and bucked her hips against him. He groaned in response as she began to fiddle with the hem of his t-shirt. Finally she ripped it over his head. Smiling down at her he attached his lips to her own and she immediately opened her mouth for his to explore.

His hands went to the bottom of her tank top and quickly threw it over her head before attacking her neck, making sure to brand her as his. She moaned as he sucked harshly on the delicate skin, her hands began to undo the button on his jeans, finally releasing it, she unzipped them and began tugging at them. Troy helped her push them down and kicked them off. He quickly undid her own jeans and she raised her hips to help him slide them off.

Standing up, he lifted her off the sofa. She wrapped her legs securely around his waist as he stumbled to the bedroom. Dropping her onto the bed, he came crashing down lightly on top of her.

Their lips met in frantic kisses as their hands roamed, trying to memorize each curve, each muscle, each fiber of the other's body. His hands slid behind her back. She arched it to give him access to her bra, which he swiftly unclasped and tossed to the ground. He left her lips and began to kiss his way down to her cleavage.

He breath hitched in her throat as she felt his mouth cover her right breast. He lightly nipped at her nipple as his hand fondled her left breast before switching. When his work was done there he kissed his way down her stomach, lingering on her belly button ring, as he gently tugged it, causing her to moan loudly.

He looked up from he spot and hooked his fingers into her black panties as he slowly slid them down her legs. Spreading them open he gently licked her already wet folds, smiling when he heard her moan louder than before. Giving them a gently kiss, he moved back up to kiss her. He felt her tugging at his boxers and he helped her pull them down.

He looked her in the eyes and she silently gave him permission to enter her. In one quick movement he was inside her. He quickly realized that she wasn't a virgin, and smiled happy that the pain wouldn't be there for her to deal with.

She pulled his head down and connected their lips as he started a slow pace. Soon he picked up the pace and felt her moan into his mouth. Moving his mouth down he began to kiss her jawbone and neck as moans escaped both of their lips.

He felt her walls clamp down on his member as he drastically picked up the pace until they were both screaming each other's names as they collapsed spent after incredible orgasms. Pulling carefully out of her, he brought her to his side as they both got ready to fall asleep.

"I love you El." Troy whispered in her ear.

"I love you too Wildcat." She smiled as she drifted off to sleep with her head on his chest.

At 6 the alarm went off. They both groaned, they'd had a late night needless to say. Pulling out of Troy's arms, she shut it off and groggily sat up, hitting Troy in his toned stomach. "OWWW" he moaned

"Time to get up Wildcat." She looked over at him, "You should stay home today. You can stay here and sleep. I'll just call Mrs. Shepard and tell her she's got the day off. Gabriella made a move to get out of bed, but was pulled back down by Troy.

"Can't we both stay home?" He asked hopefully.

She giggled, "I have a huge Spanish test and a Calc test today. I need to go in."

Sitting up he rubbed his eyes, "Will you meet me during free period and lunch in the garden?" she nodded yes, "I'm going in today."

Worried filled her eyes, "Are you sure? Cause the school would understand…" his lips on her own silenced her.

"I'm going in. Let's shower and get our clothes out of the living room, otherwise Mrs. Shepard's suspicions will be confirmed." They both laughed as they cleaned up and got ready for school.

30 minutes later Gabriella dropped Troy off at his house so he could get his car. "I'll see you at school Wildcat."

"Love you El." He said, giving her a kiss. He got out of the car just as Coach Bolton came out, she waved to him and pulled out of the driveway towards school. Parking she went inside.

She passed Troy's group as she made her way to her locker. Ryan slightly nodded to her, and she gave him a small smile. Reaching her locker, she opened it and began putting her books away.

"I called you yesterday." Claire came to stand next to her.

"We had a mall date in the afternoon." Taylor hissed

"You ditched us." Claire was really upset by this.

"Sorry, I had to deal with Erin. Mrs. Shepard had to cancel on me." Gabriella explained, at least that part was true.

"Well why didn't you call us back?" Taylor asked just as upset.

Gabriella looked for an excuse, "She called me. Didn't I tell you guys?" Kelsi asked

Gabriella sighed in relief. "Yeah, I talked to Kels." She said, silently thanking Kelsi with her eyes.

"Oh, okay, we're just worried about you." Claire said, the hallway fell silent for 30 seconds, then talking resumed, Troy had come in. Gabriella turned slightly to see him, she fought to keep a smile off her face.

"What's up with you, your eyes, you look happy?" Taylor asked

Kelsi nodded to herself, "Yup, as soon as Bolton enters, oh my God, there's so something up with them. I won't say anything because Taylor and Claire'll have heart attacks in bad ways."

"Hey Troykins." Helen flirted with Troy

"Back off Helen." Troy pushed her arm off of him. He glanced down the hall and caught Ell's eyes, he sent an apology with his own. She sent an understanding look with her eyes.

"Dude, you should be home." Zeke said

"I'm fine." Troy said, slamming his locker shut. Sharpay looked at Troy's eyes, there was content ness in them, "Hmm," she thought, "there's something up with him…" but she brushed it off as the bell rang for homeroom.

When lunch rolled around Troy ditched his friends and headed to the rooftop garden. Gabriella did the same. Troy turned when he heard the door open. He smiled, "Hey baby." He greeted her.

She smiled and walked over, they shared a sweet kiss, as Troy wrapped his arms around her petite waist. "So, um, we forgot to use protection last night." Troy looked down guiltily. In the heat of the moment he had totally blanked on that.

Gabriella smiled up at him, "It's okay, I'm on birth control." She assured him.

He sighed in relief, "Wait? What? Why?" he asked

She giggled at his questions, "You forgot where and how." She joked, he glared at her. Clearing her throat she began an explanation, "Before I came here, in middle school, I had this boyfriend: Jesse. I thought he was really sweet. But then he started getting violent. Throwing things and stuff. So I broke up with him. He started stalking me, and it ended in rape." Gabriella got quiet for a few minutes as Troy clung to her even tighter. "So," she took a deep breath, "I convinced my parents to let me start on birth control out of paranoia that something like that would happen again." Gabriella finished her explanation.

"Is that why you moved here?" Troy whispered

Gabriella nodded, "Yeah, that's why we moved here." Troy nodded his understanding and nuzzled his nose against hers. They sat like that, quietly eating their lunches until the bell rang.

"I'll see you during free period Wildcat." Gabriella said as they parted ways before reaching the crowded hallways of East High.

"Bet on it El Bell." Troy leaned down and kissed her before going in the opposite direction.

Kelsi smiled triumphantly from around the corner, "I knew it." She muttered happily.

Review!!

Mollie XOXO


	12. Warning

Warning!!

Okay so I feel like I really O.D. on the author's notes, but whatever. All right, so I'm giving you guys a warning now, on June 18th I leave for Las Cabos, Mexico for 5 (?) days or so. So I won't have internet and there won't be any updates. But there's good news. I'm still taking my computer so I'll have all the updates typed already so when I get back I'll post a million or so chapters. Since it's a business trip my dad will be in meetings all day and my mom and annoying little brother can't go so I'll be alone and free to do whatever I want, even sit by the pool with my computer and type!

That was the warning. Now for news. I've started a new story called Why Can't I? Warning: there is Troypay and Ryella at the beginning. It pains me to write it, but it's all for the story's purpose. There will be eventual Troyella I promise!

Secondly, A New Life has ended, and Runaway is coming to a close. So be forewarned that Runaway does not have a lot longer. By the time I get back from Mexico I will have all the chapters written and it'll just be a matter of posting it all on fanfiction, if I have it finished before I leave then even better for me cause it's one less story. (I really think I over did it with the amount of projects I give myself to work on)

Status on Life at EHS. It's still on hold and I really want your ideas. You see even if I don't use them, they'll help oil the rusty wheels in that part of my brain. Seriously HELP ME. I feel like I gave myself a clean ending and didn't leave any room for drama or action.

Beautiful Again…yeah…about that. I've hit a block. I'm not quite sure what to do with it. I just need a cute fluffy idea for the next chapter that flows with the story. I can tell that the next chapter needs to be one of those fluffy fun filler chapters. I just need some ideas to get the story rolling again.

As for College Life, I've got an idea and I'm working on fleshing it out so that's coming. No worries with that story yet. I'd have to say that it's the slowest yet, and it's basically all fluff, but that's just the way it is sorry!

UCLA Adventures: I'm also at a slight block there, but I wouldn't worry about it, I'm sure something will hit me. Ideas are welcome though.

Learning to Breathe, The Return of the Wildcats, and In the Blink of an Eye are all good. There should be steady updates. I've set them up for a good amount of drama and fun. So they're awesome.

Rating wise, someone mentioned that I might need to permanently change the rating on Learning to Breathe for sexual content so I did. While I was at it I changed the ratings of Runaway and In the Blink of an Eye. So for those three stories I won't be warning you that it's M Rated. If I need to put a lemon alert before it comes you just need to tell me, otherwise, just know that it's M rated for SC and that it won't be in all chapters, but it will be in some. Why Can't I? Is also rated M for SC, so be forewarned.

Okay, that's all I have to say, sorry for all the ANs I do, but I like to babble…enjoy!

Mollie XOXO


	13. What's Up

What's Up

I'm officially back from Mexico and had the opportunity to do a lot of thinking. First of all I think that everyone should know that when September comes around I might not be writing as much or at all because I'm going to be moving into the dorms for college. Secondly, my mom might have cirrhosis, which could lead to liver failure and hopes for a transplant, and my little brother (14 years old) has to have a major surgery this summer for his stomach, which is concave and creating some problems. So for now my time is becoming sparse, so I'll write when I can, but there are no guarantees about new updates all the time since it seems that I'm basically in charge of the house for now.

Life at EHS is on hold for lack of ideas, which I have been BEGGING for, I've just received zero help. If no one wants it up, I'll gladly delete the story.

Right now I think I might have a few too many stories going on. I really want to finish one, but I'm not at that place for any one of them. I thought maybe Runaway was the closest, maybe it still is, but I just don't know after re-reading it. So I've made a decision that I know not everyone is going to like.

Life at EHS is already on hold, but I'm going to add a few stories to that list. I'm holding College Life and UCLA Adventures for a while too. That leaves me with Runaway, Why Can't I? (which is going to come slowly I think), Learning to Breathe, In the Blink of an Eye, The Return of the Wildcats, and Beautiful Again. That's 6 stories. When one of them ends I'll probably pick one of the three on hold up. If an idea comes out of the blue for Life at EHS though, you better believe that I'm writing it out, those who read that have been VERY patient with me.

I know I promised updates, and I had them for Beautiful Again, The Return of the Wildcats, In the Blink of an Eye, Learning to Breathe, Why Can't I?, Runaway and oneshots, but somehow all of them are gone with the exception of Beautiful Again, and Runaway. I don't know if it was something I did or something my friend Drake did, who borrowed my computer in Mexico. So for now I'm working on re-creating the chapters and hopefully they'll be up soon. Please be patient with me I do sincerely apologize.

So that's my sad story. I hope everyone understands and I'm really sorry, so now I'm going to try to remember everything I wrote that's gone, I think I'm gonna start with the oneshots since I'm actually listening to the songs right now lol.

Mollie XOXO


	14. Chapter 11: Yeah, Right

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 11: Yeah, Right

Gabriella was pacing the rooftop garden waiting on Troy to show up. She fidgeted with the hem of her t-shirt scared about how he was going to react to her news.

FLASHBACK

"Gab, can I talk to you for a minute?" Kelsi as Gabriella. They'd gotten out of Spanish early after the test and were waiting on the bell to ring. Kelsi had chorus, but Gabriella had free next.

"Sure what's up Kels?" Gabriella asked her friend. Looking around the deserted hallways, Kelsi grabbed Gabriella's wrist and dragged her into the music room. "Kelsi what?" Gabriella gasped out as she withdrew her wrist and began rubbing it.

Kelsi began dancing around, "I knew! I just knew it! So how long has it been going on for? Is it going well? Why is it a secret?" Kelsi babbled on.

Gabriella blanched slightly, but held her composure, "What are you talking about?"

Kelsi rolled her eyes, "You and the Golden Boy." She said, as if it was as obvious as the sky was blue.

Gabriella's mouth formed an Oh shaped, but nothing came out. Walking over to the window she began rubbing her hands up and down her arms, even though she wasn't cold. "It's a long story." She muttered.

"We have 20 minutes, explain missy, and don't worry, I'll keep it a secret." She assured Gabriella. Gabriella turned around and nodded.

"It started with him just protecting me from Helen and friends. Then when my parents died…" her voice trailed off. Taking a deep breath she continued, "he was just there. He never apologized for it, he was just supportive. When he thought I was going to break, he'd have me meet him during lunch or free and I'd cry or talk and he'd just be there. We went for runs to the beach and then just talk or walk in a comfortable silence."

"Okay, so then what?" Kelsi prodded her along

"Then Dylan was in a car accident, his older brother." Gabriella explained, "I was there for him, I offered him a place to go to get away from everything since I don't live near anyone." She smiled, "And he took me off on the offer." Taking another breath, "He and Erin get along really well, he really loves her. And me." She whispered the last part, "He loves me."

Kelsi smiled and took Gabriella's small hand in her own petite one, "Do you love him?"

Gabriella looked up and an unusual smile graced her beautiful face, "More than you can imagine."

"I'll keep it a secret, does anyone else know?" Kelsi asked

"Ryan Evans and Jason Cross figured it out, Ryan caught on really quickly and Jason guessed and confided in Ryan, thankfully, so they know. Please, we're not ready to make a big scene of it. Oh and Troy's parents of course know, they have to know where he disappears too, and then Mrs. Shepard, so I guess a lot of people do know, just none that would flip out or cause problems." Gabriella rambled on.

"Don't worry Gabs, you're secret is safe with me." Kelsi assured her friend.

END OF FLASHBACK

The door to the garden opened. Gabriella jumped about a foot when she felt a hand on her shoulder. A small cry escaped her mouth. "Whoa, baby it's just me." Troy said. He looked at her face and saw that it was covered with worry, "What's wrong?"

"She knows…" Gabriella looked everywhere but at Troy.

"Who's she?" Troy asked nervous

"Kelsi, Kelsi Neilson. Kels knows, she privately confronted me about it today." Gabriella explained, "I'm so sorry, I don't know how she knows Troy. If you want to end whatever this is I'd understand." Gabriella went on and on.

Troy chuckled at her nervousness, leaning down he kissed her, "Anything else to say?" he asked when they pulled back, she shook her head no, "Good. Now, I want to ask you something before we deal with this." Gabriella nodded, "Will you be my girlfriend?"

"Yes." Gabriella said in an oddly calm tone, even though inside she was dancing with excitement.

Troy nodded and smiled, "I was hoping you'd say that. Next, don't worry about Kelsi. If she promised not to say anything until we're ready, she'll be there to give you excuses."

Gabriella nodded, "That's what she said, so I guess I overreacted a little." She admitted with a shy smile.

"Just a little, but that's why I love you." Troy tilted her chin up so he could look in her eyes, smiling he leaned down and captured her lips with his own.

When they pulled back they were smiling, going over to the little wooden bench they smiled as they sat down, Troy pulling Gabriella onto his lap. They sat in their usual comfortable silence.

They never had to worry about making conversation, if they wanted to sit then they could, it was never weird or awkward, it was just right. Tory gently played with her hair as she sighed contentedly leaning back into him. Suddenly the door burst open and Jason and Ryan came flying in. Both Gabriella and Tory jolted up.

"Problem." Ryan gasped out of breath

"What?" Gabriella and Troy asked together

"Helen is looking for you." Jason said

"So?" They asked again

"She's coming here, she heard you liked to hang here." Ryan explained

"Well who told her that?" Troy asked angrily

"Sharpay." Ryan and Jason answered in unison

"Shit." Troy muttered. "Okay, El, you go with Jason and Ryan. Keep her out of sight. When you get downstairs separate. If I don't get to talk to you or get a note to you, I'll be home after practice."

Gabriella nodded, "Okay, love you."

"I love you too baby girl." He said, they shared one last kiss as Ryan and Jason slid out the door with Gabriella between them.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs Gabriella looked at them, "Thanks." She said, giving both of them an impulsive peck on the cheek before running in the direction, towards her locker, she'd just go to the library.

"I like her, she's good for Troy." Jason determined, shoving his hands in his pockets as he and Ryan began to roam the school, hoping no one saw them.

Just as Troy sat down and pulled his French book out the door opened again, this time it was Helen and Sharpay, with Zeke and Chad meekly trailing behind. "Baby we've been looking for you everywhere." Helen said going to sit by him.

"Well you found me and for the last time I'm not you're baby." Troy said, getting up and shoving his French book forcefully into his backpack. Placing a cold, stone face on he turned towards his friends. "What do you guys want?"

"Make sure you're okay." Sharpay eyed him up and down, he looked flustered and out of breath, why?

"Well, I'm fine, I just want to be left alone." He hissed, "That's why I come here." He picked his bag up and stormed out of the garden. Turning quickly, "I'm skipping practice today." He told Zeke and Chad before resuming his sprint down the steps.

"What's up with him? He's acting funny." Sharpay declared

"His brother just died honey, give him space for now." Zeke advised his girlfriend.

"Yeah, right…" Sharpay said, not at all convinced.

Review!

Mollie XOXO


	15. Family Problems

So I know that no one reads these and I write them all the time, but I have some news…

1. My mom may have liver cancer…they're doing the final check on the 30th.

2. My brother is having a major surgery for his concave stomach

3. My 7-year-old cousin is in the hospital for not eating right now, she collapsed yesterday evening in a restaurant and it was the scariest thing I've ever seen.

4. My grandmother is also in the hospital, she's having breathing problems.

So what this all comes down to is that my family is slowly falling apart on me, this means that constant updates are not guaranteed. I can tell you that I'm going to try to update everyday just to get my mind off of things, although it'll probably be posted around midnight East Coast Time.

Now what I'm doing with my stories…

1. Buggie842 gave me an amazing idea for Life at EHS and I finally acted on it and updated a chapter of it.

2. I decided that I can't put stories on hold, Buggie842 also gave me an adorable idea for UCLA Adventures, which I now want to update. So I'm not going to put any stories "on hold" I'm just not going to write and beg for ideas when I need them and when I don't feel like writing a certain story I'm not going to. That's pretty much the it.

3. I've changed my oneshots a little. All my music-based oneshots are under Music Oneshots (real creative I know right?). I wrote a regular oneshot and those that I write will be under Oneshots (I know I'm on fire!).

4. People have asked that I create at least a mini-story out of the first real oneshot I wrote, "Cruise Reunion." Who knows? Maybe I will, but for now no…there's enough I've got to finish up first.

5. As for A New Life, as of now there is no sequel in the picture. Maybe I will later, again I've got enough to write about now, maybe even too much.

So that's my news.

If anyone wants a sequel for A New Life or a story out of Cruise Reunion I'd like to know to see if it'd be worth doing after I finish up a story or two. So if you could just let me know that'd be amazing! I love you guys and thanks for putting up with me and my annoying author's notes, I do way too many of these things lol!

Mollie XOXO


	16. Stupid Technology

Okay I know what everyone is thinking, "2 author's notes in one day! How did we get so lucky? NOT!"

This is really frustrating, but something is wrong with my email account. This is so retarded, I can get any emails, except from fanfiction, I have no idea what's going on, all my little alert things are enabled and whatnot.

So I don't get alerted when someone posts a new chapter and I can't get your reviews unless I check my stats, which I probably will do if I have time.

If anyone wants to get in touch with me my email is or, because I tried to fix the problem but failed, I just opened a new account with aol, .

I tried changing my email address with fanfiction, but you have to confirm it by opening up a confirmation email with your old address, which won't get fanfiction emails! So frustrating. Anyways, if anyone has any advice please email me through your email account!

Thanks!!

Mollie XOXO

PS. Technology is so the devil's work!!


	17. Chapter 12: Troy Bolton's Eyes

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 12: Troy Bolton's Eyes

Sharpay sat on the bleachers not listening to Helen babble on about how much Troy 'loved' her. As much as Sharpay hated to admit that she was wrong…She was dead wrong about Helen Parker and Troy Bolton. They definitely didn't belong together. Sharpay watched as the team fell apart slightly with the absence of their captain. If he didn't belong with Helen, who should he be dating?

She mulled this over as Helen continued to go on and on about some dress she'd found. Okay, so maybe a cheerleader wasn't his type, maybe an athlete? She smiled as she realized at least she didn't need to go through the abundant amount of nerds in the school. Oh what about a theatre person? One of the cool ones perhaps. She was drawn out of her thoughts when Coach Bolton blew his whistle and began to yell at the team to get their heads in the game.

Chad raised his hand, Jack looked at him, "It's tough without Troy here Coach, he needs to practice to get his mind off things."

Jack glared at Chad, Jack understood that right now Troy needed a break from everything and Gabriella and Erin were perfect for that. "Don't tell me how to raise my son." Jack warned through gritted teeth.

The gym fell silent. No one moved, everyone was barely breathing. "Chad's right though." Sharpay groaned, why couldn't Helen keep her damn mouth shut? She wondered helplessly.

"Stay out of it." Coach Bolton warned, "Troy just lost his brother, his friend, his role model. He needs space for the moment. Give it to him." Jack blew his whistle, resuming the game.

Troy laughed as he passed the ball back to Erin. Her giggle was infectious. He took a deep breath and sighed contentedly at the smell of Gabriella's delicious dinner. "That smells heavenly." He called out.

"Why thank you." Gabriella responded with a smile as she walked into the living room, wiping her hands on a hand towel. She took a seat next to Troy on the floor. "Sorry buddy but it's time for Erin's bath."

Troy looked over to his girlfriend, "Look I'll bathe her, you just finish up that delicious smelling dinner, I'd hate to ruin it if something went wrong."

"Really?" Gabriella grinned at Troy as he nodded and kissed her.

"We'll be right back." He scooped a giggling Erin up in his arms and went off to her bedroom. Just as he started to run the bath the doorbell rang. Gabriella jumped about a foot in the air. Carefully she made her way to the door and slowly opened it up. There stood Claire and Taylor. Gabriella took a deep breath.

"Hey, wanna have a homework party?" Taylor asked with a smile.

Gabriella sighed, "Sorry, Erin's not feeling well."

"Oh no where is she?" Claire invited herself in and Taylor followed.

'Shit.' Gabriella thought to herself. "Look girls, right now Mrs. Shepard is bathing her, could we have a rain check and I'll call you later?"

"We wanna see her though." Taylor whined.

Gabriella nodded, "One second." Walking into the bedroom Gabriella shut the bathroom door behind her.

"Hey baby." Troy replied smiling up at her.

"Taylor and Claire are standing in our living room" Gabriella worriedly looked at Troy, "And they won't take THIS well."

"I know, look just tell them that Erin is sleeping, we'll end her bath until they leave. And take a deep breath honey." Troy advised. Gabriella nodded and left.

"Sorry girls, Mrs. Shepard is putting her down and then going to jump in the shower herself. Erin threw up on her." Gabriella lied through her teeth as convincingly as she could.

"Oh, okay." Taylor didn't fully believe her, but let it drop because she was probably overly stressed anyways. "Call us later." The girls hugged and Claire and Taylor reluctantly left. Gabriella slid down the now closed door and put her head in her hands, taking deep breaths.

Five minutes later Troy set Erin down in her play pin and sat next to Gabriella on the floor, "Come here baby." He opened his arms up and she climbed onto his lap, letting tears from God knows what slide down her delicate face.

When they pulled away at the sound of the timer on the oven Gabriella smiled, "Sorry, sometimes all of this is a little over-whelming."

Troy ran his hand over her cheek, caressing the delicate features softly, "Baby girl, there's no need to apologize. You're without a shadow of a doubt the most amazing person I've ever met in my life. And I love you so much, thank you for saving me." He leaned down and kissed her softly, she sighed and reluctantly pulled back to get her green bean cassarole out of the oven.

An hour later Erin was in bed and Troy and Gabriella were sitting in what they now deemed their bed doing homework. "That's it." Gabriella sighed, tossing her chemistry book to the ground in frustration, "I give up. I officially hate chemistry."

Troy chuckled. "Let's call it a night on homework and move on to more pleasant activities." Gabriella giggled as Troy shoved all of their books off the bed and rolled on top of her. Immediately his lips attached to her neck, sucking harshly on it. She moaned as she felt him leave his mark on her neck.

She sighed in disappointment as his lips left her skin bare again. His hands slid up her shirt and tossed it over her head before his lips found her soft, full ones. Her hands roamed up his well-sculpted chest, causing him to groan before they went back to the hem of his shirt, tossing it deftly over his head and to the ground.

When all clothes has been stripped to the floor, Troy leaned over Gabriella and looked her in the eyes, "I love you so much El." He whispered into her mouth.

"I love you too Wildcat." With that he drove into her in one swift motion, he grunted and she moaned with the pleasure the actions evoked. He picked up a steady pace and the two began moving as one as their lips met in a fiery kiss that left them yearning for more.

When they both came off their highs, Troy gently pulled out of Gabriella and pulled her tightly against him, "Thank you El." He said against her bare shoulder.

"For what Troy?" She asked

"For saving me when I needed it the most. For being here for me. For distracting me, for giving me Erin." He shook his tangled hair. "For loving me, for everything."

Turning around so she could face him she wrapped her small arms around his torso. "I only gave you, what'd you had already given me." She brushed some air out of his eyes, "Besides, how could I turn away such a hunk like you?" she poked him playfully in the chest.

He grunted and flipped them over so he was on top, ready to start round two. She giggled at his actions, "What are you suggesting Mr. Bolton?" she playfully asked

"I think you know exactly what I'm suggesting Miss Montez." He seductively whispered in her ear as he nibbled on it, causing her to moan.

Sharpay sat on her pink bed, in her pink room, clutching her pink pillow. Something was up with Troy Bolton. The look he had in his baby blue eyes, it was so strange. Grabbing a piece of paper and a pink pen she began jotting down all the emotions in his eyes, trying to figure her best friend out.

Sorrow

Loss

Hopelessness

Calmness

Contentment

Hopefulness

Happiness

That was a weird mix, but something was missing, something she couldn't put her finger on…"Oh my God!" she shrieked

Ryan came bursting into her room "Shar are you okay?" he asked out of breath.

"I can't believe he wouldn't tell me oh my fucking God. I can't believe it." She muttered.

Ryan cocked his head in confusion, "Can't believe what sis?"

Sharpay smirked as she added two more words to her list.

Love

Sex

Review!!

Mollie XOXO


	18. Chapter 13: Now Who Exactly Is It?

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 13: Now Who Exactly Is It?

Sharpay smirked triumphantly as she walked into school the next day. She'd refused to tell Ryan what she'd figured out the previous night. She was halfway done figuring Troy out; the other half consisted of whom he was dating. Suddenly a terrifying thought entered her mind, "What if she doesn't go here?" She groaned, unknowingly aloud, "I'll never figure it out if she doesn't go here."

"Figure what out babe?" Zeke asked with a puzzled look as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Huh?" Sharpay cocked her head to the side, "Did I say that aloud?"

Zeke tapped her nose, "Yup, was it supposed to stay in that pretty head?" he tapped her head this time and she giggled.

"Yeah, I'll tell you when I figure it out though, or if I need help. Which I might." She said ruefully.

Zeke was thoroughly confused but decided not to cross his girlfriend, "Just don't get in any trouble." He playfully wagged a finger at her.

She smiled cockily and bit his finger lightly, "Have I ever gotten in trouble for my scheming before handsome?"

Zeke arched an eyebrow concentrating, "Nope, but there's a first time for everything Miss Evans," she smiled at him, "even for you…"

"No worries baby." She assured him, he nodded and let it go. Sharpay's head whipped around when the halls fell silent for the traditional 30 seconds, Troy had entered. Sharpay had decided to play it cool and natural today, and instead to watch the way he interacted with others, in hopes of figuring out who the mysterious girl was. Truth be told, she hoped Troy would finally find love, just like she had. She smiled up at Zeke and leaned comfortably into him.

SHARPAY'S PERSPECTIVE

I smirked slightly when Troy walked in. I watched as his face emotionlessly skimmed over the crowd. I was looking for a change. I wanted to see whom his face would react to, in either a good or bad way. He landed on Chad and he smiled and then rolled his eyes, nothing unusual there.

He looked over at Jason and Ryan who were quietly talking and gave them a wave, all good. He looked towards Zeke and me and gave a full on grin. He walked over and pecked my cheek, shook hands with Zeke. Okay, so nothing wrong there.

He continued to look over the crowd and frowned. A reaction: perfect. I adjusted my position and tried to contain a sigh. It was only Helen, what else was new there?

I noticed that he was particularly uncomfortable with her possessiveness today. He'd probably been like that for a couple of weeks and I just hadn't noticed it until now. He rather roughly removed her hand around his waist and looked around, looking for someone. I so knew it. I squealed, then covered my mouth with my hand quickly.

"What Shar?" Troy turned to look at me with arched eyebrows.

"Nothing…" I mumbled into my hand

"Does this have anything to do with the scheming you're doing?" Zeke asked suspiciously. I shook my head no.

"Right." Troy dragged the word out, "Just leave me and my life out it Sharpay Michelle Evans." He warned. I nodded even though it was a lie.

Troy resumed his search of the hallways and I watched his face closely. Nothing seemed to change for a minute, suddenly he frowned. I followed his gaze down the hallway. Since Helen was talking to him and he wasn't listening it didn't have anything to do with her. His gaze had landed on a group of nerds.

I tapped my finger to my chin, names: Taylor McKessie, Kelsi Neilson, and Claire Hanson. Didn't they have another friend? Gabriella Montez was her name right? Where was she? Troy tore his gaze away from them before they seemed to notice he'd been looking. What was that about?

The bell rang, jolting me out of my thoughts, and from the look of it, Troy out of his. I grabbed Zeke's hand and linked arms with Troy as we made our way to homeroom. I sat down in my seat in between Troy and Zeke and watched. He stared intently at the door, as if waiting for someone to enter. At least he wasn't paying attention to my analyzing, yet anyways. I'd definitely have to be careful. One reason Troy and I get along so well is because we're both very perceptive.

Worry etched over his handsome features as the final bell rang. So someone was missing? I looked around the room and did a silent head count. I groaned, aloud again. Everyone turned to look at me.

"Problem Miss Evans?" Mrs. Darbus asked me.

I nodded my head, "Migraine."

She frowned and wrote a note on a piece of paper, "Go get something from the nurse's office. I want you on your game for rehearsal today." I mentally rolled my eyes, I was sure that stayed in my blonde head, and accepted the note before going to the nurses office.

Great, how the hell are there 10 people missing today? And all fucking 10 of them are girls. This is great. Okay, so I need to write down their names and stats. I can do that in math. Not like I ever pay attention in that class anyhow.

I walked back into homeroom 10 minutes later to find everyone talking and Darbus grading papers at her over sized chair on the mini stage in her classroom. I took my seat again only to be harassed.

"Baby are you okay?" Zeke asked for the tenth time since I'd come back in.

"Fine." I snapped. Everyone shut up. Thank God. I really was beginning to get a headache. This was going to be harder than I thought. After all, this girl could simply be a partner in a class, Troy and I only had homeroom and free together. I laid my head down on my desk. Shit. And if she wasn't here, then I couldn't determine who she was. This was fabulous. Just utterly fabulous. Damn it.

I pulled out my pen in math and a blank sheet of paper. I began making my chart.

Gabriella Montez: nerd

Lauren Pope: athlete

Christine Taylor: nerd

Rachel Parsons: drama

Taylor Mullaney: cheerleader

Kelly Sprague: cheerleader/athlete

Victoria Spruance: cheerleader

Jennifer Baker: nerd

Martha Cox: nerd

Ashton Vincenty: drama

Okay first of all: shit! Three cheerleaders out. Second of all: shit! Two actors gone. Now back to Troy. Troy wouldn't date a nerd so I can eliminate Montez, Taylor, Baker, and Cox. That leaves:

Lauren Pope

Rachel Parsons

Taylor Mullaney

Kelly Sprague

Victoria Spruance

Ashton Vincenty

No I just have to figure out which one it is, if it's one of them. Oops, the bell rang, On to Spanish. The rest of classes consisted of me thinking over whom Troy could be secretly dating. My gut is telling me it's not Victoria or Taylor, they'd flaunt it, this was kept under the radar, none of the other girls in the school seemed to notice.

When lunch came around I feigned not hungry and told everyone I was going to get some homework done: I'd be in the theater. What a load of bullshit. I followed Troy up to the science garden. I hid behind the door as he began pacing, finally after looking at his cell phone for five minutes he pulled it out. Dialing a number he'd memorized, he put the phone to his ear.

"Baby?" he looked relieved and worried at the same time. "Where are you? I'm so worried."

"Oh no. Is she okay?" I wished I could get closer to hear what the recipient of this mysterious call was saying, but I couldn't risk that. "Do you need me to come home?"

Home? Was this person at his house? Was his mother okay?

"Okay. Well I'll be home right after school." He shook his head, sending his light brown hair flying in every direction, "No I don't wanna practice today. Look, I can always shoot hoops in the backyard. It's fine. Plus dad'll play with me whenever I want." He smiled, "Can I talk to her?"

He began dancing around a bit, which was hard not to laugh at, "Hey baby girl." His voice was so soft and sweet. "How's my best gal doing?" he laughed and gave a genuine smile that was so full of love, "I'll see you later today and we'll play."

His smile changed as I guess the person on the phone changed. This was a smile also full of love, but a very different type of love, like the love Zeke and I have. This was the person. "I'll see you later tonight babe. I'll bring home some dinner so don't bother cooking. You deserve a night off to say the least. No it's honestly fine." He grinned, "We'll play when I get home too. Yeah sure, no problem. I love you sweetie." His smile faded a little, with the realization that the phone call was going to end. "Bye honey." He hung up and smiled, as if relishing in the voice.

I decided that now was the time to go. I slipped away and ran to my locker. Grabbing my books I darted to the theater and sat down, doing homework. I'd been there for 15 minutes when the gang came in to see me. Troy was even with them. What a surprise. I'd definitely need to find out who this girl was. At least I knew there was one. And it was one of the girls on my list. So close, too bad I can't skip theater and cheerleading today…maybe if I try really hard…

Uh-oh, Sharpay's figuring it out! Review!!

Mollie XOXO


	19. Chapter 14: Where Was Gabi?

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 14: Where Was Gabi?

TAYLOR'S PERSPECTIVE

Ever since Gabi kicked Claire and me out last night I've been thinking. What is she hiding? She's definitely hiding something, I just don't know what it is. Claire and Kelsi don't seem to notice it, but something is there, something that I'm missing, but shouldn't be.

Well, I could always figure it out at school today. If I watched her really closely, then maybe I could figure it out. Just maybe. I smirked, I'm Taylor McKessie. Of course I can figure it out if I put my mind to it. Okay, so I'm a bit cocky, sue me, I'm the Valedictorian of the class, I'm smart!

I walked into school and went to my locker before heading to Gabi's. Claire and Kelsi were already there waiting for me. I smiled at them and glanced at my watch. Gabi should be here in five to ten minutes. The hallways fell silent for that stupid 30 seconds as Troy the Basketball Boy entered the building. Why does everyone fawn over him? It's not like he's that special, just because he can put a ball in a net, sheesh.

I glanced at my watch again, any minute now.

"Taylor do you have somewhere to be?" Claire asked me as she dramatically rolled her eyes.

"No why do you ask?" I was slightly confused and tired of her dramatics.

"You keep glancing at your watch." Kelsi pointed out.

Oops, "Oh, just ready for school to start today. Wanna get that math test over with." I nodded my head, trying to make myself agree with the statement. Truth was I really didn't want to go to math. That test was going to beat my ass and I knew it. I hadn't studied enough because I'd been thinking over why Gabi had wanted us out of her apartment.

I continued to try and make conversation with the girls as I rethought over the previous night. Mrs. Shepard had been bathing Erin, and put her down. Erin was sick. Mrs. Shepard was going to shower because Erin threw up on her. Why wouldn't she just wash of the part it got in using the sink? And why not change clothes simply? And why wasn't her car in the parking lot? It was awfully late for her to be there too.

I felt eyes on me. I looked up just as Troy Bolton diverted his gaze from us, Sharpay's moved away as his did. What the fuck was that about? And where was Gabi?

RYAN'S PERSPECTIVE

I think Sharpay knows something's up with Troy. I thought I saw his name on her paper that she was clutching to her chest last night. Plus she's watching him like a hawk.

I better warn Jase. "Dude." I motioned him to the side.

"What's up man?"

"Shar knows something's up with Troy." I frowned

"You don't think she'll put two and two together and place Gabs with him." Jason whispered the last part. Everyone thought Jason was stupid, but he wasn't he was in tons of A.P. and Honors classes, Troy and I know how smart he is.

"I hope not. But she knows that something out of the ordinary is going on, that's a given." I groaned. The bell rang, we had to go to homeroom. Walking behind the rest of the group we tried to come up with something to draw Sharpay's attention away from Troy for the day.

We all went into Darbus' crazy classroom and sat down. I glanced over at Troy and noticed he was worried. I hope it didn't have to do with Gabs. I motioned towards Troy and Jason looked over too. He glanced at me and leaned over.

"Did you see Gabs this morning?" he asked

I thought for a minute, finally I admitted defeat, "No." I said shaking my head in worry. I knew Troy had been over there the previous night, he'd basically moved in and his parents didn't seem to have a problem with it.

I kept the corner of my eye on the door as I continued talking to Jason and Chad about basketball. When the final bell rang I tossed a worried glance at Jason: Gabs wasn't coming, she'd never be late.

At lunch Sharpay told us she wasn't hungry and that she was going to the theater. We all pretended to believe her. About 10 minutes later I asked Jason if I could talk to him, he nodded and we went over to the theater.

"Do you really think she was lying?" Jason asked me for the millionth time.

"Okay, for the last time Jason, she's my fucking sister, I know when she lies. She's not going to the theater. She's probably following Troy." I pushed the theater doors opened and walked in. Jason and I nodded and made a sweep of the theater, dressing rooms, and backstage area. She wasn't anywhere.

"Rooftop garden." We said at the same time. Making our way silently down the halls of the science department, we walked over to the stairs. We opened the red door and saw Sharpay, tucked behind the red door that led into the open air garden. The door was cracked open and we could hear Troy's voice.

"Baby?" That was Troy, we watched as Sharpay edged closer. "Where are you? I'm so worried." We nodded to each other, silently agreeing to listen in.

"Oh no. Is she okay?" Troy sounded really worried "Do you need me to come home?" Was it Erin?

"Okay. Well I'll be home right after school." So he was skipping practice again. Sharpay was intently listening. She definitely knew something was up. "No I don't wanna practice today. Look, I can always shoot hoops in the backyard. It's fine. Plus dad'll play with me whenever I want. Can I talk to her?"

"Hey baby girl." His voice was so soft and sweet, now he was definitely talking to Erin, that was his baby voice. "How's my best gal doing?" he laughed "I'll see you later today and we'll play."

"I'll see you later tonight babe. I'll bring home some dinner so don't bother cooking. You deserve a night off to say the least. No it's honestly fine. We'll play when I get home too. Yeah sure, no problem. I love you sweetie. Bye honey." He hung up.

Jason and I nodded and quietly slipped out the door. We sprinted down the hallways, knowing that Sharpay could leave any moment. We made our way back to the cafeteria.

"What's up dudes?" Chad asked

"Yeah, why is everyone skipping out on lunch?" Helen quieried.

"Not like you eat anyways." Jason muttered

"What was that?" She arched her died eyebrows, that matched her died hair.

"Nada." Jason smiled brightly.

"Let's go check on Shar and make sure she's okay." I suggested brightly, skillfully ignoring Chad's question.

"Yeah, I'm worried about her and her plan, whatever it is." Zeke admitted standing up. We all walked to the door just as it opened revealing Troy. "Dude, we're going to check on Shar."

"Where is she?" he asked, looking around worried for either his secret or his baby sister, I'm not really sure which.

"Theater doing homework, wasn't hungry." Chad answered, stuffing the remains of his sandwich in his mouth. We all shook our heads and grimaced. Following Zeke out of the cafeteria.

I pulled Troy and Jason back and we slowly followed, "Where's Gabs?"

"Mrs. Shepard's sick, so she's home with Erin." Troy whispered back, glancing to see that no one was paying any attention.

"Dude," Jason began quietly, "can we come by tonight and see Gabs and Erin?" he asked hopefully.

Troy smiled and nodded, "We need to talk. Dude, will you skip free period practice?" he asked Jason, "The three of us have a problem and need to talk."

"No prob man." Jason said, and I agreed. We walked in the theater and found Sharpay sitting in the back row doing homework. Jason and I chuckled slightly. She looked up, shocked to see us, especially Troy. But she smiled nonetheless. She was trying to figure how to follow Troy after school. I was sure of it.

Review please!!

Mollie XOXO


	20. Chapter 15: Sharpay

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 15: Sharpay…

JASON'S PERSPECTIVE

I decided, after watching Sharpay interact with us in the theater, that Troy, Ryan, and I needed to skip out of school and leave before Sharpay follows us home to Gabs. Before the lunch bell rang I slipped out of the theater and sprinted over to the gym. I ran into Jack's office.

"Jack." I chocked out.

"Jason, what's wrong son?" he asked as he led me over to a chair.

"Slight problem." I muttered, understatement of the century.

"What's up?" he asked concerned now, he sat down behind his desk.

"Okay, you know about Gabs and Erin." Jack nodded, "And the school's dumb ass rules." Jack nodded, unphased that I'd cussed in front of him. "Sharpay's figuring this out slowly." Jack nodded, well aware of the blonde's love of the social standing rules. "She wants to follow Troy after school. He's skipping basketball again today and she's working on getting out of cheerleading and drama."

"So Troy should leave early. Is Gabi here today?" Jack asked

I shook my head no, "Mrs. Shepard was sick and bailed. She's home with Erin." I explained.

"Okay, that's fine. What else is bothering you?" Jack was smart; he knew there was more to it.

"Troy said he has a problem. He wants to talk with Ryan and me." I hesitated.

"You can skip both practices today, and I'll call your dad and explain the situation. He'll keep it under wraps. I'll do the same for Ryan's dad. Don't worry, it won't get out, but they have to know why you're skipping school." I nodded and watched as Jack reached for the phone. I heard the bell ring in the distance, but paid it no heed.

"Chris? It's Jack Bolton." I held my breath, either this worked, or it destroyed everything that Troy and Gabs had done. But Troy, Ryan, and I needed to get out of school. And the only way to do that was with the truth.

"Chris, you remember our time at East High?" Jack asked. "Remember all the rules, the social rules?" Jack grinned, "You remember how we helped Henry break them, when he was dating Eileen?" I frowned; Eileen was from the social elite? Did Shar know that? I doubt it.

Jack laughed; obviously my dad remembered it well. "Well what if I told you your son and Henry's son where trying to help Troy do the same?"

Jack nodded to me with a smile, "Since you feel that way I'll fill you in on the whole story." Jack began. "Sharpay, Chad, and Helen were bullying this girl Gabriella Montez. Troy was putting a stop to it when he fell for her. He said he didn't intend that to happen, but he's so happy it did. " Jack took a breath and continued, "Her parents were killed in a plane accident, and she was left alone with her year old sister Erin." Jack nodded in agreement to whatever my dad had said, "I know it's terrible. Well, Troy was there for her. Then Dylan was in that accident and Gabi was there for him. Troy began getting away to her apartment, then when Dylan died, well Gabi has completely taken him in." Jack smiled, "Troy's happy when he's around her and Erin. Now Sharpay's figuring it out, and apparently Ryan and Jason figured it out, but they love Gabi and want to protect the relationship until Troy and Gabi come out with it."

I smiled, Troy and Gabs were so perfect together, I love her like a little sister, I looked up when Jack continued, "Well, Sharpay's planning on following Troy after school, so I was going to send Troy home early, but he needs to talk to Ryan and Jason, so I was wondering if they could be checked out so Sharpay doesn't follow them too." Jack nodded, "Very good, yes Jason can certainly skip practice." The men said goodbye and hung up.

Turning to me he spoke, "Your dad's calling the school. Wait until I confirm with Henry, they you go get Ryan and Troy and check out for the day, screw practice." I nodded.

The conversation with Henry was pretty much the same only Jack had to calm him down when he found that Sharpay was the source of the problems. "No, Henry, it's going to be okay." Jack shook his head vigorously. "No don't speak with Sharpay about it yet, then she'll figure it out, and Troy and Gabi need to be the ones to let this come out first." Jack reasoned with Henry.

He gave me a thumbs up, which was always a good sign, "Very good. Thank you very much Henry." He hung up and turned back to me, "He's ticked to say the least." He shook his head again, "The very least." He muttered. "Okay, go get Ryan and Troy and go to Gabi's apartment." I said my thanks and sprinted down the hall towards our chemistry class. Thankfully we were all in it together. The only one who could suspect was Zeke; I prayed he wouldn't pay it any mind.

I stopped in front of the door and took a deep breath. I clutched the office notes in my hand as I walked up to the teacher and showed Mr. Ritter the papers. He glanced at them and nodded, "You may tell them. I hope everything's alright."

"Thank you Mr. Ritter." I replied. I walked over to Troy and whispered in his ear, "You, Ryan, and me have the rest of the day off, I'll explain at Gabs, let's go." I handed him his note and didn't wait for him to respond before I walked over to Ryan.

"We have the rest of the day off, let's go. I'll explain later." I gave Ryan his own paper before jetting out of the classroom without giving Zeke a second glance with Troy and Ryan hot at my heels.

"How'd you manage this, I get Troy, but us. Jase what'd you do?" Ryan asked me.

"Let's say I have an interesting story about our parents Ry." I shook my head, who'd a thought that Eileen wouldn't have fit into the status quo. Guess she was our Gabs, or maybe there were a few of them. I shook my head again as the three of us headed to the door of the school.

We jumped into our cars and sped off to Gabi's apartment, making a quick stop at a sandwich shop. We all grabbed dinner and continued on our way. When we got there, Troy entered the pass code and unlocked the door with his own key. We walked in to find Gabriella and Erin sleeping on the sofa, the TV playing softly in the background. We stopped and smiled for a minute. Gabriella began to stir.

GABRIELLA'S PERSPECTIVE

Erin and I had fallen asleep on the sofa while watching TV, she was so hyper today, and it took all I could to wear her down for her nap. Sheesh, she's a firecracker, poor Mrs. Shepard. I was stirred out of my sleep when I heard the door open, but I didn't want to open my eyes, I like sleeping, it's a nice treat. It must be Mrs. Shepard; she's got her own key. So does Troy, but he's in school, where I'm glad I'm not even though I miss him like crazy.

I groaned and decided I should open my eyes. When I did, I jumped out of my skin, luckily not waking Erin up. Troy, Ryan, and Jason were here, and with sandwiches? I motioned for them to be silent and quietly put Erin in her crib. I turned on the baby monitor and shut her bedroom door.

"What are you guys doing here?" I asked, shocked needless to say, once Erin was safely tucked away.

Troy shrugged his shoulders, "Ask them." He pointed to Ryan and Jason.

Ryan shrugged his shoulders, "Ask him." He pointed at Jason.

I turned and arched my eyebrows at Jason, "Well?" I asked, walking over and taking the bags with our dinner most likely away from them. I walked into the kitchen and put the five subs in ziplocks, five? There were only four of us. "Who's the fifth one for?" I asked before Jason could respond to my earlier question.

"That would be me." I turned and saw Kelsi standing in the doorway, okay, now I was really confused.

"Troy, what is going on, why are you all here?" Troy walked over to me.

"First I need a proper 'hello, good to see you Troy' from you, then you get an explanation." I smiled as he leaned down and connected our lips in a short, sweet kiss.

I pulled away, "That's all for now." I said at the look on his face "Now explain."

"We have a problem." Kelsi answered in her no nonsense way.

"What sort of problem?" I asked

"Wait, what is she doing here?" Ryan interrupted, pointing at Kelsi.

"Dude, that's what we were going to talk about during free period, but Jason pulled us out of class, and I want to know how too." Troy answered.

"Let's sit, and I'll go first." Jason said. We nodded and sat in the living room as Jason proceeded to tell us how his father and Henry Evans knew about our relationship, and about Eileen Evans.

"Wait, I knew they were high school sweethearts, and I've never met my mom's parents cause they died the year before Shar and I were born, but she and dad broke the rules of EHS too?" Ryan smiled, "Go mom and dad."

"Yeah, and apparently our parents helped them, which makes me wonder, are they all from the same 'social' group. Our dads all played basketball, but what about our moms?" Jason finished.

"This is ridiculous bullshit." I muttered, leaning back into Troy, "Who made up this crap that we have to deal with anyways?"

"God only knows but that's exactly what it is." Kelsi muttered as she smiled over at Jason who gladly returned it. The smile, however small, didn't go unnoticed by me. I gently poked Troy in the ribs and inconspicuously motioned towards Kels and Jase.

"Okay, now that that's covered onto the next thing, you are the only three in school that know about this." Troy said, motioning to our friends. "And it needs to stay like that."

"Not if Sharpay has her way." Ryan muttered.

I went pale, "Sharpay…"

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Mollie XOXO


	21. Chapter 16: I've Got It

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 16: I've Got It

Troy looked at Ryan and Jason with his mouth draping open, "Sharpay knows?" he asked in disbelief.

Ryan shook his head, "Not knows know, but knows something is up, and…" he looked at Jason for help.

"She knows that something is going on with you, she was watching you like a hawk today." Kelsi commented dryly, "At least in homeroom and in the hallways I took note of that."

"That's not all." Jason piped up. Troy and Gabriella looked at him expectantly, "She um" Jason stuttered, "she followed you up to the garden and listened in on your conversation with Gabs." He mumbled the last part.

Troy and Gabriella looked at each other, both trying to recall the conversation clearly, "You didn't say my name Troy." Gabriella finally decided. "I'm positive, you only called me honey and sweetie and the like."

Troy nodded, not quite as certain as his girlfriend, but he wasn't about to doubt her because he wanted to believe what she'd said. "Yeah, you're right." He submitted.

"Okay, now that we have that cleared up, how did Kelsi know to come, and how did she get out of school?" Ryan looked at the petite brunette who was supposedly quiet, but turning out to be quite the spitfire.

"Well," the girl looked around guiltily, "my parents are in England, on a 'business trip' of my dad's so I have the power to call in when I'm sick, which I am now."

Gabriella let out a long laugh, pushing herself out of Troy's lap; she walked over to Kelsi and gave her a hug. "I love you so much Kels." She laughed. And she kept laughing. This whole situation was completely ridiculous. Did it really matter what the school thought? Then she sobered. As quickly as the laughter started, it stopped. Helen Parker, Sharpay Evans, and Chad Danforth made her life miserable for years, they could certainly do it again, especially if they found out she was dating Troy. But could they convince Troy to not protect her?

She was so caught up in her own thoughts she didn't even realize that she was absently standing in the center of the living room, four pairs of eye on her. She had to figure out how she was going to deal with this. Her favorite plan was to transfer schools now, but that was a bad plan, she'd have to change districts and either go to North or South High, because the competition with West was way too fierce for her to go there, she'd be hated.

"Ella?" It was Troy's voice, "You okay baby?" He got up and gently wrapped his arms around her waist, slowly guiding her back to their spot on the couch. She looked up at him and nodded.

Taking a deep breath she responded, "But how did you know to come?"

Kelsi smiled at the guys, "That was really slick Troy. The note in my locker, how did Sharpay miss that? I figured she was going to follow me, so you can imagine how surprised I was when she didn't."

"She was in class, Calc I think, Jason got us out early." Troy volunteered.

"Okay, we all know what everyone else knows, now we promise to keep this a secret. I think it's time to do damage control." Jason spoke up. Kelsi and Gabriella looked at each other with arched eyebrows, they had no idea Jason was as smart as he was proving himself to be today, but Troy and Ryan didn't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary.

"Guys…" Ryan's eyes got wide as saucers.

"What?" Kelsi and Gabriella asked at the same time. The looks on Troy and Jason's faces read that they knew what Ryan was going to say.

"Zeke was in the class we skipped out of." Ryan managed to breath out.

Gabriella spit out the sip of coke she'd just taken, "And you idiots still left? You couldn't wait until you were out of everyone's eyesight?"

"It was either Zeke or Sharpay." Jason commented dryly

"Yeah, and you don't think this won't get back to Sharpay?" Kelsi asked sharply

"Erm, no it won't." Troy lied through his teeth.

"How the hell do you figure that Troy?" Gabriella asked angrily. It was over, this secret. It was out, too many people knew, and too many people now suspected.

Zeke sprinted through the halls of East High in search of his girlfriend. He knew that whatever she was scheming must have something to do with Troy, Ryan, and Jason. They'd just skipped out in the middle of class. What the hell was going on?

He burst through the gym doors, praying that the guys would be there, but not really expecting them to be. He was late because he'd taken a detour to the rooftop garden, on the off chance that Troy was there with the guys, thinking maybe they'd just gotten out of class even though he knew that was bullshit.

"Baylor you're late." Jack yelled, blowing his whistle to start the warm up. Zeke put his hands on his knees slightly out of breath and held up his index finger.

"Sorry Coach." He apologized before running up the bleachers to his girlfriend and Helen. "Girls, Jason came to last period late and he, Jason, and Ryan left. Sharpay what the fuck is going on?" Chad had heard him from the gym floor and dropped the ball, sprinting up the steps.

"What do you mean left?" Chad asked. Coach Bolton motioned for his assistant, Coach Greg Smith to let them be. Instead, he went off to the side and listened quietly in.

"Sharpay knows something and she's going to tell us now." Zeke ordered his girlfriend.

Sharpay grinned at him, "Sorry baby, but I don't know have all my facts straight yet, so no can do." Chad went to protest, "But I know where to get them from, looks like you'll have to wait though." She shrugged her shoulders as if to say 'sorry now get lost'. When the boys didn't move she smiled before yelling, "Go practice." Zeke and Chad nodded meekly and went back to free period work out.

Sharpay cocked her head to the side in thought, "What to do? How to figure this all out." Suddenly an idea popped up in her pretty blonde head. "I've got it." She said aloud before sprinting out of the gym.

Jack watched her go and realized she could be stirring up immediate trouble. Motioning to Greg that he'd be right back he walked out of the gym and picked up the nearest phone.

"Hello." Troy answered his cell phone.

"Troy it's your dad." Jack informed his son.

"Hey Dad, what's up? Is everything ok?"

"I'm not sure what Shar is planning, but if she somehow shows up at your apartment, don't let her see anyone but Gabi and Erin." Jack instructed. Troy nodded agreed, the two hung up after swift goodbyes.

Troy turned to look at his four confused friends, "Sharpay may be coming over."

"WHAT?!" The four cried in unison.

Sharpay smiled at Mrs. Darbus as she flipped through the directory looking for the addresses of the Lauren Pope, Rachel Parsons, Taylor Mullaney, Kelly Sprague, Victoria Spruance, Ashton Vincenty, and just for the hell of it, Gabriella Montez, Christine Taylor, Jennifer Baker, and Martha Cox. Now all she had to do was get out of school. Smiling she waved goodbye to Darbus and walked to the nurse's office.

"Mrs. Hayfer?" Sharpay took a deep breath and made her voice shaky.

"Yes dear?" the older woman looked up and frowned, Sharpay Evans looked incredibly pale and on the shaky side. "Are you okay Sharpay?"

Sharpay took a step closer and looked around, "I just threw up." She lied cleanly.

"Oh honey, do you want to go home?" Sharpay nodded and Mrs. Hayfer dialed Sharpay's home phone only to receive the answering machine.

Sharpay hid a grin, "I forgot that my parents left town this afternoon for a vacation in Australia." She mumbled with a small moan for effect. "Can I just go home?" Mrs. Hayfer nodded and signed Sharpay out. Sharpay quietly thanked the gullible woman and slowly made her way out of the school. Once she got to the parking lot she sprinted to her pink mustang and sped off to Lauren's house.

After the guys were cleaned up after practice they met Helen outside the locker rooms, "Where's Shar?" Zeke asked looking around for his blonde girlfriend.

"She said 'I've got it' and went sprinting out, haven't seen her since." Helen informed the boys. Chad and Zeke frowned, their friends were slowly disappearing, what were they missing?

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Mollie XOXO


	22. Chapter 17: More Visitors?

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 17: More Visitors?

AN: I feel this one going to around Chapter 30…so we're definitely getting close, therefore I plan on focusing on this, so the rest of my stories aren't going to be updated unless I get a major divine inspiration that I can't hold off on!

Mollie XOXO

Sharpay hit her fist angrily on her steering wheel. Lauren, Taylor, and Kelly had been so sick their mothers' wouldn't let her see them and Rachel, Ashton, and Victoria had been so sick Sharpay wished their mothers' hadn't let them see her. Then a terrifying thought entered her mind, "What if it was a nerd?" She shook her head in disbelief, but nonetheless turned her car in the direction of Christine Taylor's house.

"Thank you Mrs. Baker, tell Jennifer I hope she gets better soon." Sharpay smiled her fake smile that everyone seemed to buy. Well, she was a fabulous actress after all. Getting into her car once again she sighed, looks like it was Gabriella Montez. Groaning she headed off towards the Montez apartment.

Pulling into an empty space she frowned, she knew that little Corolla. Wasn't it one of Gabriella's friends? The one with glasses? Kelly? Katie? Kelsi, that was it Kelsi Neilson. Getting out of the car she went to the buzzer, hoping Gabriella wouldn't turn her away.

She rang it. "Hello?" Came a giggled response.

"Gabriella? It's Sharpay Evans. Can I come up to talk with you for a minute?" Sharpay held her breath.

"Sure Sharpay, I'll buzz you in." Sharpay frowned, that was really easy. A second later the door opened.

Inside the apartment the guys were running around grabbing their shoes and jackets and sprinting into Troy and Gabriella's bedroom, trying to hide all signs of their presence. Just as they were safely inside the bedroom with the door closed there was a sharp rap on the door. Then Erin began crying.

"Damn it." Gabriella cursed, which was rare.

"I'll grab it." Kelsi offered as Gabriella nodded absently rushing to hush a crying Erin, knowing how much it would bother Troy.

"Sharpay." Kelsi greeted her least favorite person besides Helen.

"Neilson." Sharpay spat, "Where's Gabriella?"

"Right here." Gabriella sang out as she bounced a crying Erin on her hip. "Sorry, she woke up just as you arrived." Gabriella explained. Her eyes skimming the room quickly, her breath hitched as they landed on Troy's jacket. "Shit." She cursed herself.

Kelsi casually followed her gaze and walked over to the sofa, sitting in front of the jacket to shield it from view. "So how can we help you Sharpay?" Kelsi asked curtly.

"I was just checking on Gabriella, that's all." Sharpay smiled sweetly, "I was concerned when you weren't in school." She wasn't really lying about that.

Kelsi and Gabriella both looked at her with arch brows in disbelief. "Concerned? Since when?" Gabriella was trying to hold her composure, she wasn't sure if she was going to laugh or scream at this point.

Sharpay pointedly ignored the question and turned to Kelsi, "Why aren't you in school?"

Lying smoothly, "Brie called me to ask for help today. The school let me go since it was an emergency."

"What sort of emergency?" Sharpay asked skeptically, as if on cue, Erin threw up on Gabriella.

"Erin's sick." Kelsi heading to the hall closet that held linens and towels and handing one to Gabriella.

"Excuse me. I need to bathe Erin and myself. Kelsi will show you out if that's it." Gabriella said going to Erin's room.

Sharpay nodded, "Just one question, who's coat is that?" she pointed to the one behind Kelsi.

Gabriella sighed, "It was my Dad's. I let Erin play with it so she can always remember his scent." With that she swept out of the room.

Kelsi smiled triumphantly, that was not what Sharpay had wanted to hear, "This way please, we have some cleaning up to do now." Kelsi opened the door for Sharpay and waited until she left before closing it again. She walked quickly over to the room the guys were in, "Don't come out until I tell you her car is gone." Kelsi instructed. She heard a few aggravated yes' and closed the door before heading over to the window.

10 minutes later Sharpay walked through the door. She'd been waiting on the other side, hoping to hear the guys' voices, but no luck for her. She was back to square one. Once the car was down the block Kelsi told the guys they could come out of their hiding place.

Troy didn't say anything, just walked into Erin's room to find Gabriella changing her, "Here baby, you go shower. I got Erin." Gabriella smiled up to him and placed a short kiss on his lips in a 'thank you' gesture before walking into her own bedroom to shower and change.

15 minutes later, Troy was feeding Erin while making sure Gabriella ate. Once Erin was done, he burped her and began walking around. "Troy…" Gabriella whined as their four friends watched with amused faces, eating their own sandwiches. "You need to eat, give me Erin. See," she held up her empty plate, "all done." She pouted and Troy fought with himself to gain the advantage. Too late, he caved and gave Gabriella Erin as he went to the kitchen and put his sub on a plate.

He walked back into the living room to find Gabriella bouncing Erin happily on her hip. "So Jason, you were going to talk about damage control before we got interrupted, what's your plan?" Gabriella asked

"I don't know, but I don't think you should hang out in school anymore, at all." Jason replied

"And you should probably go back to practice to make Zeke and Chad leave you alone Troy." Ryan piped up. Troy groaned, the truth was, he really didn't want to play basketball anymore, not since Dylan died. Gabriella noticed this and glared at Ryan. He caught it and basketball was dropped.

"Okay, so you two stay away from each other." Kelsi agreed, trying to ease the tension that was at a high at the moment. Gabriella nodded and walked into Erin's room, she gently laid her in the crib before walking back into the living room and collecting the plates. Once everything was put away she sat down in Troy's lap.

"You guys are welcome to stay over if you'd like to." Gabriella smiled at them, she could tell they were debating. "How about this then. If we talk for too long, you're staying over, you're not driving. And Ryan we'll come up with a lie for you. Maybe Jason could cover for you since your dad is into this whole situation." Gabriella suggested. There was a knock at the door.

Gabriella winced, it was either, Taylor, Claire, or Mrs. Shepard, and she was hoping it was the latter. "Hide." She directed, Kelsi nodded and led the guys into the bedroom, following them in since she knew who it most likely was. Opening the door Gabriella grinned, "Hiya girls." She smiled.

"Where the hell were you today?" Taylor screamed, and that was all it took. Erin began crying.

"Damn it Taylor." Gabriella hissed at her friend before running into Erin's room and scooping her up. She walked back out, "Either be nice or get out now." She ordered.

Taylor and Claire stood there shocked, "Look honey," Claire began, "we're worried."

"Mrs. Shepard bailed, so I had to stay home." Gabriella explained hurriedly

"Do you know where Kelsi is?" Taylor asked suspiciously

Gabriella shrugged, "Home? How the fuck would I know?" It was clear she didn't want them here so the two girls looked at each other.

"Fine we'll leave, have a nice night Gabriella." Claire yelled as she and Taylor left, slamming the door behind her. Gabriella winced, it'd been forever since either one of them called her Gabriella to her face.

Troy, Jason, Ryan, and Kelsi came back out, all furious. Troy took Erin away from Gabriella and began humming to her, which calmed her back to sleep. He quietly walked into her bedroom and laid her back down. 'Poor kid' he thought, 'this has been way too tough for her'.

"What are we talking about now." Troy asked as he came back in and pulled Gabriella onto his lap.

"How if you two need to see each other, the notes will go between us," Jason motioned to himself, Ryan, and Kelsi.

"And you'll meet in different spots." Ryan intervened.

Gabriella sighed, "This isn't going to last long." She finally spoke what everyone else was thinking. "We need to come up with a plan for when we come out with it, or when someone else does it for us."

"Tomorrow." Troy firmly stated, "Now bed." He yawned, causing Gabriella, Jason, Ryan, and Kelsi to laugh.

"I'm going home." Ryan said.

"Same." Jason and Kelsi agreed. They left and Troy and Gabriella agreed that tonight was about sleep and nothing more. Crawling into bed they wondered how the following day would go for the stressed young couple.

Review!

Mollie XOXO


	23. Chapter 18: Problems at School

Disclaimer: I own nothing

This chapter is dedicated to I-Fizz! Thanks for all your support!

Chapter 18: Problems at School

The next day Mrs. Shepard showed up to take care of Erin, apologizing profusely for missing the previous day. Gabriella and Troy got into Gabriella's car and she drove him down to the park down the street where the guys had left their cars before Sharpay arrived. Sighing as she put her car in park she looked over at her boyfriend of wow, 3 months, and frowned.

Troy took her hand in his strong one, "We'll get through this." He said, kissing the back of her hand gently.

"You're more confident than I am. The fucking world is more confident than I am." She muttered slamming her head on the steering wheel.

"Whoa, baby girl. Stop." Troy grabbed her head and gently turned it to face him. "Don't hurt yourself it won't solve anything and you know it. I've got an idea." During lunch let's meet at the park down the street from the school." He cocked his head to the side. "It's close enough to walk and no one will find us. We have double today. Don't argue, I'm missing basketball today. I'll go to after school practice just to make you smile though."

Gabriella nodded, "Fine. Park during lunch." Troy gently kissed Gabriella and got out, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. He got in his car and waved to her as she drove off.

Pulling into her assigned spot, Gabriella walked into school looking tired and deflated. This secret thing was way too much for her to handle. As she walked down the halls Jason and Ryan noticed how defeated she looked. Jason glanced down the hall and made eye contact with Kelsi. Both of them were thinking the same thing: she looked like she wanted to curl up and die.

Gabriella reached her friends and smiled. "Hiya girlies. How is everyone doing today?" She asked in the most cheerful voice she could muster.

Claire smiled, "Please tell me you can sleep over tonight?" she pulled the puppy dog eyes.

Gabriella sighed, "I can't guarantee anything, I have to check with Mrs. Shepard, but I'll let you know."

"Yay!!" Claire began jumping around talking excitedly about how much fun they'd have. Gabriella glanced wearily at Kelsi as she tried to stifle a yawn.

"Losers having fun?" Sharpay asked as she passed by them, bumping into Gabriella 'on accident'.

"Probably solved a math equation." Helen smirked.

Gabriella rolled her eyes; she'd had enough, "Back the fuck off Sharpay." She hissed in a dangerously low voice. Then she snorted, "Or at least come up with new comebacks." The whole hallway was watching the scene in front of them; they didn't even notice Troy walk through the front doors of the school.

Troy's eyes narrowed as he saw Sharpay and Gabriella facing off. He groaned, aloud, beyond furious about the situation. He saw that Taylor and Claire flanked Gabriella, and Helen, Chad, and Zeke flanked Sharpay. Not exactly fair. He smiled a little seeing that Kelsi, Ryan, and Jason were attempting to play peacemakers.

He scowled when Sharpay shoved Ryan out of her way with one perfectly manicured hand.

"Listen Miss Nobody," Sharpay sneered, "I get to do whatever the hell I want to do. And I'm not in a good mood right now. And I choose you to take it out on."

"Well how about you listen Miss Sparkles," Gabriella got right in her face, "I'm not having the best time right now either, so why don't you back the fuck off me like I said before, or else."

Sharpay scoffed, "Or else what?"

"Or else this." Gabriella withdrew her hand only to have Jason catch it as Troy approached, unbeknownst to any of them.

Sharpay laughed and withdrew her own hand, figuring that Jason was on her side, but her hand was also caught, by Troy. Jason had dropped Gabriella's hand and was whispering to her.

"Violence is not the answer with Sharpay because she'll gladly return it."

"Fine." Gabriella grumbled.

Sharpay smirked, "Jason threatening you?" Jason looked at her and walked away. Sharpay frowned, did Jason just walk away from her? Was he protecting Gabriella and not helping her? 'Oh dear, new problems' she thought.

"What's going on?" Troy asked, looking between the two crowds of friends.

"Nothing." Gabriella muttered, glaring once again at Sharpay before stalking off, now her day was absolutely perfect.

Troy sighed, he didn't like to see Gabriella mad like that, and he was having a hard time controlling the urge to sweep her off her feet and kiss her silly. "Sharpay, what the hell is going on now?" he repeated his question for what he felt was the millionth time.

"Nothing Troy." She spat, turning and walking away. Taylor and Claire glared had stomped off after Gabriella. Chad, Zeke, and Helen followed Sharpay, leaving Ryan, Kelsi, and Troy. A moment later Jason returned and the four stood in the middle of the hallway. Taking a look around to see their friends gone, they made their way to Coach Bolton's office.

They arrived just as the bell rang. Jack was sitting in his office with Greg Smith. He looked up when he heard the door closed and saw Jason, Ryan, Kelsi, and Troy enter the room, "What's going on kids?" he asked looking at their faces.

Troy began shaking, the look on Gabriella's face etched into his memory, it was full of hatred and pain. Of course she didn't hate him, just his friends, minus Ryan and Jason of course.

Jason and Ryan looked at their best friend and sighed. They gently guided him to the couch and pushed him down. Coach Bolton knew exactly what to do. Grabbing the phone he dialed the principal's extension. "Dave it's Jack." He paused a moment to listen and grinned, "Yeah, it looks like it'll be a good season, look, could you do me a favor. Could you call Gabriella Montez into your office and then send her here, don't tell Darbus that she's coming here." He grinned again, "Thanks Dave I owe you one."

Gabriella stormed into homeroom and sat down with a huff. She hated Troy's friends. Except for Jason and Ryan of course. How could they be so mean? What the fuck did she do to them?

Gabriella didn't even notice what was going on around her until she heard Darbus calling her name she looked up, "Yes Mrs. Darbus?"

"Principal's office." Darbus said shortly, Gabriella frowned, but nonetheless collected her things and headed to the office. 'Just fan-fucking-tastic' she thought as she opened the door to his office.

She walked in and said, "Yes Mr. Matusi?"

"Coach Bolton wants you." He replied without even giving her a glance. Gabriella sighed and walked to the gym.

Opening the door to his office she walked in and was faced with Jack, a man she didn't know, Kelsi, Jason, Ryan, and Troy, who was staring blankly at the wall. Groaning inwardly she realized the last thing she really wanted to be doing was play Dr. Phil to Troy right at that moment. She needed a fucking Dr. Phil. Setting her things down on Jack's desk she gently shoved Ryan out of the way and sat next to Troy, taking one of his hands in her own.

He looked up at her, "Hi babe." He greeted her, a small smile played on his lips.

"And what are we doing here Mr. Bolton?" she asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"Chilling." Jason answered.

Gabriella giggled, "Since when are you Mr. Bolton?"

"Since I decided it'd be fun to be." Jason answered with a smirk

"Yeah, tons of fun being me right now." Troy muttered.

"What, you don't like hanging out with us?" Gabriella asked, poking him in the side as she motioned to Jason, Ryan, and Kelsi. "Sheesh, I guess we should just leave him to mope, come on guys." Gabriella let go of his hand and got up.

As soon as she stood, she was pulled back down by Troy, only this time on his lap. "You know what I mean." He glared playfully at her. She giggled again.

"Join the fucking club." She muttered into his ear. The room laughed, apparently they'd heard her. She smiled cheekily at them all.

"So what do you crazy kids want to do today?" Jack asked, aware that there was no way in hell they were going back to classes after the morning's face off. He'd already heard about it from Ryan.

Kelsi and Gabriella looked at each other and grinned, "Shopping and beach." They chorused.

The guys groaned, "Beach: okay, shopping: not okay." Ryan wagged his finger in Gabriella's face.

"Careful or I'll bite it right off your pretty little hand there Ry." She warned him.

"You wouldn't." he challenged

"Don't mess with her." Troy warned, "She goes through with her threats."

Jack and Greg laughed, "Okay, I'm on it, go shopping and to the beach. Enjoy the day." The girls cheered and the four friends left to play hooky for the day.

When they were gone Greg spoke up, "They seem like a good group of kids." He commented

"They are, they've got it rough though." Jack shook his head sadly

"Skipping school hardly seems rough to me Jack." Greg smirked

Jack shook his head again and proceeded to tell his friend about their problems and why they deserved the day away from Sharpay.

Review!!

Mollie XOXO


	24. Chapter 19: Destined to Be Together

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 19: Destined to Be Together

Sharpay watched as Gabriella gathered her books up and left the classroom. A satisfied smirk covered her pretty features. She figured the principal had heard about the problems Montez had started that morning and she was going to pay for it. Glancing at the door again she frowned.

Where were Troy, Ryan, and Jason? Glancing at Chad, Zeke, and Helen she could tell they were thinking the same thing.

Sharpay looked around the room and did a mental head count. Someone else was missing. Could that person be with Troy? Who was he secretly seeing? Inwardly groaning she realized that the person missing was none other than Kelsi Neilson.

Sharpay thought back to the confrontation that morning before homeroom. Why had Kelsi, Ryan, and Jason seemingly band together to play peacemaker? Where they secretly friends? What was going on with the school? The status quo seemed like it was going to disintegrate any day now.

The bell rang and Sharpay was jolted out of her thoughts, realizing that Ryan, Jason, Troy, and Kelsi were still missing. She frowned and linked arms with Helen, hell bent on figuring out what was going on once and for all.

Walking into the cafeteria later that same day she glanced towards the table, not expecting to see Troy, but expecting to find Ryan and Jason quietly talking as they normally did. She frowned, they weren't there.

Tossing her purse on the table she complained, "I'm going to have frown lines by the end of the day." She took her mirror out of her purse and began poking pointlessly at her face.

"And why are you going to have frown lines?" Chad asked stupidly

Sharpay rolled her eyes, but giggled nonetheless, "Cause I keep frowning, doy!"

"You know, you just don't get a lot of 'doy' these days." Zeke joked (Yes I've been watching too much Friends, that's a Chandler line!)

Sharpay laughed with the rest of her table and frowned again, "Has anyone seen Jase, Ry, or Troy?" The table sobered.

"Not since this morning." Zeke whispered, the table remained silent for 10 minutes.

"They weren't in Chem Shar" Zeke said again.

Sharpay groaned and looked across the lunchroom, Taylor and Claire sat alone at their lunch table. And instead of the usual laughter that drifted from the table, there was silence. Sharpay tapped her finger to her chin thoughtfully, there'd been less laughter at that table for a while now. How long though?

"Has anyone seen Kelsi Neilson or Gabriella Montez?" She asked suddenly.

"Ew, who cares about those losers?" Helen's face contorted to one of disgust as she spoke

"Yeah, since when do you care Shar?" Chad asked as he stuffed a cookie and part of his hamburger into his mouth, while taking a sip of coke.

"Now that's just nasty." Sharpay squealed in disgust, "And I was just curious."

"Careful," Zeke playfully tapped her nose, "remember that curiosity killed the cat."

Sharpay giggled, "Don't worry about this cat." She said as she gingerly kissed him. Yet, her eyes roved back to the table across the way. Since Dylan died, that was when that table went dead.

Now was it just unfortunate timing? Just a coincidence? What made that table die? All these thoughts ran through her head at once, "I need to go shopping." She muttered more to herself than to the table.

They laughed, knowing that was how Sharpay distressed.

Gabriella squealed loudly, "Troy put me down please!" Troy had her over his shoulder and was carrying her towards the ocean.

"Okay." He agreed as he tossed her deftly into the cool water.

She screeched and pouted with her arms over her chest. He looked down at her and laughed, "Well at least be somewhat of a gentleman and help me up." She held out her arms.

He laughed and grasped her hands. A yelp escaped his lips as she pulled his down next to her. She grinned cheekily at her boyfriend, "That's what you get." She said.

"Agreed." He leaned over and kissed her. They both screamed as they were pelted with sand by Ryan, Kelsi, and Jason.

Picking up sand Gabriella hit Ryan square in the chest. The sand fight continued until the five teens decided to rinse off in the ocean and go for a nice long walk on the beach.

Gabriella was walking in between Ryan and Troy when she realized that Kelsi and Jason were no longer with them. She stopped, "What's up Gabs?" Ryan asked her.

Frowning she turned around and what she saw made her smile. Tugging at Ryan and Troy's bathing suits she motioned for them to follow her gaze. They turned and were faced with the sight of Jason's tongue down Kelsi's throat.

"That's gross." Troy muttered.

"Why? You do it to me all the time." Gabriella pointed out. Troy held up his hands in surrender, not wanting to discuss how different it was to him.

When the two pulled back for air Jason pushed a stray curl behind Kelsi's ear, "Be my girlfriend?" he asked hopefully.

"Oh yeah." Kelsi said, leaning up to peck him on the lips. Intertwining their fingers they turned to catch up with their friends who had resumed their walk.

Kelsi let go of Jason's hand and pulled Gabriella ahead of the boys, "We need to talk." She whispered in her ear, "Girl time." She waved to the boys, telling them to shoo.

"What's up girl?" Gabriella asked Kelsi.

"I'm Jason's girlfriend." She casually replied. Gabriella squealed and gave her a tight hug as they continued walking. "So how do you and Tory do this whole secret thing, cause we're not coming out unless you two do."

"Yeah, we'll have to do it at the same time, cause if one comes out, the other sure as hell will." Gabriella agreed. "I've been thinking, how bad could it be? Why not just get it over with? But then the other half of me thinks, what the fuck would happen? They could tear us apart! I don't want that to happen." Gabriella put her head in her hands.

Kelsi sympathetically touched her friend's shoulder, "We'll work it out, we're in this together, all the way." Gabriella smiled and linked arms with her best friend.

"So you and Kelsi." Ryan raised his eyebrows at Jason's blush.

"Yup, me and Kelsi." Jason agreed, not really responding.

"Are a couple from what it looks like." Troy said, pointing to Gabriella hugging Kelsi and squealing up ahead of them.

"Yup, we are." Jason said giving them a goofy grin. "So what do we do now?"

"I think we need to have a serious conversation with the girls." Ryan said, "We need to sort this out, way the pros and cons, and figure out how much longer we have until someone dangerous figures this all out."

"Part of me wants to shout it to the world." Troy smiled looking up at his girlfriend, who without a doubt was the sexiest person alive, "But part of me is afraid of what may happen to us if we do tell the school."

"We'll figure it out dude." Ryan assured him.

"Yeah, we're all stuck in the situation." Jason assured him.

Gabriella and Troy walked into their apartment (Gabriella's apartment, Troy and Gabriella do not have their own just to clarify that), they talked with Mrs. Shepard for a while and then she left.

The two cooked dinner, watched TV, did homework, bathed Erin, and put her to bed. "I don't know about you," Troy said, wrapping his arms around Gabriella's tiny waist, "but I'm so not tired right now." He lightly bit her ear.

Gabriella moaned, "We need to get out of Erin's room so we don't wake her up." Troy nodded and tossed Gabriella over his shoulder again, carrying her into their bedroom. Gabriella giggled as she landed on the bed, with Troy falling lightly on top of her.

Troy's lips found her neck as she moaned, fiddling with the hem of his t-shirt until she finally ripped it over his head. Troy's hands slid under her tank top and gently pulled it over her head. His lips reconnected with her own as she played with the button on his jeans until they joined his shirt on the ground. Her shorts quickly followed.

When he was buried deep inside her, he realized that there was no other place he'd rather be and that she was the one he was destined to spend the rest of his life with.

Review…Okay, so everyone's going to find out soon…get ready for some serious drama!

Mollie XOXO


	25. Chapter 20: Friends?

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 20: Friends?

Let the drama begin…

Troy walked into school the next day to see Gabriella talking quietly with Kelsi by her locker. She glanced over Kelsi and gave him a small smile, which he gladly returned. Suddenly Taylor and Claire approached them, "Where were you two yesterday?" Taylor asked coldly.

Kelsi and Gabriella looked at each other and grimaced, this wasn't going to be easy. "Look, yesterday was a tough day for me." Gabriella began, trying to quickly come up with an excuse as to why they weren't there.

"Then why didn't we hear from you?" Claire looked visibly hurt.

"Cause I ran into Kelsi and she just took care of me." Maybe she didn't really need to go into details, she might be able to be vague with them.

"So you two got out of school?" Taylor looked at them skeptically.

"Just drop it." Gabriella was suddenly very tired, tired of the suspicions, tired of the lies, tired of doing it all without her parents, just plain tired.

"Why should we?" Taylor challenged her

"Because you're my friends and you accept what I say, and know that if there's something going on you'll find out when I'm ready to tell you. You know how much I've been through." She felt sick now.

"That doesn't excuse you." Claire said dramatically.

Gabriella groaned, enough was fucking enough, "Like you've ever really cared. You never know what I'm thinking. You never take the time to figure out what's going on with me unless you're in the mood or you think it'll benefit you in someway. What sort of friends are you?" She spat, slamming her locker shut as she stormed away with Kelsi hot on her heels.

Troy flinched from down the hall. The bell rang. Where were his 'friends'? Better yet, where were Ryan and Jason? "Guess I'll find out in homeroom" he muttered to himself.

Walking into homeroom he saw his friends were already there, including Ryan and Jason. When he sat down Jason walked casually over to his desk, "We kept the sharks away for a while. Don't worry about it." Troy nodded his thanks and went to staring at the door.

Sharpay watched him, he looked like he was in pain. Maybe he wasn't seeing anybody. Maybe she'd been wrong? No that was bullshit and she knew it. Something was up with him. It had been for a while. She suddenly smiled, she knew exactly what to do.

'Okay,' she thought 'I just have to make notes about when different things happened and put them on a timeline. Maybe if I see it all on paper it will actually make sense and I can figure out this never-ending situation. And put a stop to it if it's bad.' With that thought she pulled out a piece of paper and her pink pen. Dabbing the tip of it with her tongue, she began writing.

Troy looked up as the door opened just as the final bell rang. He thought his heart was going to break in two at the sight before him. Gabriella looked ready to break. She looked like she wanted to cry, but knew she couldn't, not here, not now. He began to squirm uncomfortably in his seat.

"You okay dude?" Chad asked his friend with concerned eyes.

"Yeah." Troy said absently, all he wanted to do was scoop Gabriella up in his arms and kiss her sadness away. He wanted to be the one to make it better, not Kelsi, who was desperately trying to comfort her friend in the corner.

Kelsi looked up and caught Jason's eye. She tossed a side-glance at Taylor and Claire and Jason immediately knew that the reason Gabriella looked so desolate was because of her friends. He groaned and put his head in his hands. Today was going to be a long day, he knew it to his toes.

"Dude, what's up with you, Troy, and Ryan?" Zeke leaned over to ask Jason.

"Everything." Jason replied, though it was muffled because his face was on his desk. Suddenly his head shot up, "Where the fuck is Darbus?" The whole class burst into fits of laughter. "What?" he asked confused.

Zeke patted him on the back, "Man, she's not here today, she asked Shar to take roll and then watch us as we do whatever." He shook his head, "You'd think we'd all leave, but hell, we're still sitting here. Whatever though. Seriously, what's up with you guys lately. Where were ya'll yesterday. Sharpay's ready to beat you guys up trying to figure out what's going on with Troy."

Jason quickly realized that he'd gotten himself stuck in the one conversation he didn't want to be stuck in. But maybe this could work. If he could sell Zeke a lie, then Zeke could tell Sharpay, then Sharpay would leave them alone until they figure out how to deal with Gabs' friends and the rest of the school. Hm, this could actually work for him. Realizing he'd been silent for too long he quickly thought up some bullshit.

"Look dude," he paused for effect, "Troy's been through a rough time and right now Helen and Sharpay are being overly demanding. And you and Chad are constantly pushing basketball, and it's all too much for him to handle. So," another pause, "he began disappearing. Ryan and I got worried so we tried to understand his position. Just tell Sharpay to leave him be for the moment."

"That's all good, but Shar thinks he's fucking someone. And she wants to know who." Zeke looked around the room finally resting his eyes on Troy who looked ready to cry and kill someone.

"Trust me, he's not fucking anyone." Jason assured Zeke in what he hoped was his most convincing voice. Zeke nodded and seemed to buy it. Jason sighed in relief. He needed to talk to Kelsi. Lunch, maybe he could borrow meet her in the music room for a few minutes. Pulling out a sheet of paper he jotted her a note. 'Now to figure out how to leave it for her. Maybe I can put it in her locker when no one's watching.' He thought.

He glanced over and saw Zeke talking quietly to Sharpay. Jason silently prayed that Shar would buy it and give them some time to regroup. Leaning over to Ryan he told him what happened with Zeke.

"I guess." Ryan sounded tired and unconvinced, "This is too much, she's not going to bite. She's brinking on obsessed here." Jason shook his head, it wasn't her life, why the fuck did she care?

The bell rang. 'One class and then free period' Troy thought, 'One class and then Ella' he just had to breathe and take today one step at a time. He walked into the chemistry classroom and sat down between Ryan and Jason, hoping for some protection. Gabriella walked in with Kelsi, Taylor and Claire weren't far behind, but they weren't speaking with Gabriella and Kelsi that much was pretty evident in their body language.

Troy's eyes connected quickly with Gabriella's and they made the decision to meet during free in the garden. They needed to find a new spot to meet, the garden had become too risky.

The bell rang and Troy walked out of the room with Zeke, Jason, and Ryan towards his locker. Chad met them there with Sharpay and Helen.

"Captain," Chad began in his best whining voice, "please come play one game with us?" he pouted, not an attractive feature on him.

Troy shook his head 'no', and opened up his locker.

"Come on dude!" Zeke clapped his back. Ryan and Jason passed a look, something was about to go incredibly wrong now.

"Not now." Troy said.

"It's never not now." Sharpay pointed out.

"Stay out of it Sharpay." Troy warned not looking at her.

"Come on baby, I want to see you play." Helen coaxed

"I'm not your baby and you don't control me." Troy told her, trying to keep calm.

"Dude, come on just one game." Chad begged his best friend

"No." came the stony reply. Jason and Ryan looked at each other. They mentally agreed that someone needed to step in. But before they could say anything Zeke spoke up.

"Captain, I know you're sad, but you need to step it up, or we're going to lose to West High." Zeke scolded him. Troy snapped. He shoved Zeke against the locker.

"You actually think that I give a damn about West High right now? My brother, my best friend just died. I get time to mourn I get time to not focus on basketball 24-7 I need time." He shook Zeke forcefully, "You all need…" By now the entire hallway was focused on the scene playing out in front of them.

"Troy…" A voice came from behind. They all spun around to see the owner of the voice. The hallway was dead quiet, waiting to see what was going to happen next.

Review!!

Mollie XOXO


	26. Chapter 21: Say All of This Isn't True

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 21: Say All of This Isn't True

By now the entire hallway was focused on the scene playing out in front of them.

"Troy…" A voice came from behind. They all spun around to see the owner of the voice. The hallway was dead quiet, waiting to see what was going to happen

He let go of Zeke and turned around, he looked down into the sad brown eyes of his girlfriend, the person he actually loved. She didn't look scared, as the rest of the school did at this point. She didn't look worried that he was losing it like they did, she didn't look on disapprovingly, she didn't look any of these things because she understood. Instead she just held out her hand. He looked at her and took it. The school watched as Troy intertwined their fingers instinctively and the two walked away. They both looked sad, but content to be with each other. No one said a word.

Zeke straightened out his shirt with shaky hands, "What just happened?" he managed to choke out.

Sharpay shook her head, her blonde hair flying every which way, "I should have known, he'd been there, I could smell it, but I just couldn't place it at that moment." She was muttering to herself.

Helen let out a shriek, "What is he doing with HER?" Everyone turned to face the brunette with disapproving eyes.

"Look Helen," Sharpay was losing her patience fast, "we still know nothing, so until we do you need to keep that temper under control before I lose mine and we all know what that's like." She threatened, the ice queen coming out. Helen whimpered out something that sounded like 'yes ma'am'. Sharpay nodded and turned around, looking through the crowded hallways. She found what she was looking for, rather whom she was looking for.

Taylor and Claire had cornered Kelsi the minute Gabriella and Troy had walked off together, knowing that she knew what was going on. "Kelsi Marie Neilson, what in God's name is going on here?"

Kelsi shrugged her shoulders and played dumb, knowing it wasn't her place to tell them, "Look just because I spent yesterday with Gabi doesn't mean I know anything about this." She gestured towards where Gabriella and Troy had been, but ended up hitting Sharpay in the face, turning "Sorry," she began and then saw who it was, "oh wait, no I'm not." She smirked.

"Whatever." She let it drop, much to Kelsi's surprise, "McKessie, what's going on now?" she demanded.

"Believe me Ice Queen, I don't know." Taylor looked at Sharpay, disapproval evident in her eyes brown eyes.

"Let's follow them." Chad suggested.

"Look guys, maybe we should give them space." Ryan helplessly threw the idea out there. Everyone but Kelsi and Jason glared at them. "Or not." He muttered.

"Well where are they going?" Claire asked

"I know." Sharpay smirked.

The two made their way up to their spot. Gabriella led him over to the bench. He sat down and pulled her onto his lap. She snuggled deep into him, he kissed the top of her head. And they just sat there, she didn't say anything about his actions, no scolding or worrying. She knew he didn't need it.

After a few moments of silence, Gabriella decided to speak, "You okay baby?" she asked as she ran her hands up and down his strong arms.

He buried his face in her hair, "Yeah, I just snapped. Looks like we're out now though." He lightly kissed her ear.

She giggled, and turned around to face him. She wrapped her legs around his waist so she was straddling him, "We'll just have to deal with what happens. Sorry about that though, I just didn't want you actually hurting Zeke." She tapped his nose.

He laughed and moved his head so he could kiss her finger, causing her to sigh. Neither of them noticed their 'friends' standing in the doorway. She leaned down and kissed him. He responded by running his tongue over her bottom lip, she teased him, not opening her mouth until he lightly nipped at it. She gasped and he took the second to slide his tongue inside.

She pulled him closer to her by tangling her hands in his hair. He ran his own hands up the back of her shirt, drawing crazy invisible patterns on her smooth skin. When the need for oxygen became too great they pulled apart, resting their foreheads against one another's, trying to get their breathing back under control.

"I love you Ella." Troy said, as he rubbed his hands up and down her arms.

"I love you too Troy." She replied, placing a sweet kiss on his lips before resting her head on his shoulder, as his face dug into her hair, breathing in her scent of coconut and melon.

Helen gaped at the sight in front of her, 'Why isn't that me?' she inwardly screamed. Turning on her heel she stomped away, Sharpay close behind her, furious that Troy was apparently dating a geek.

Taylor and Claire looked at each other and groaned, this was a completely unacceptable situation in her mind. They too followed Helen and Sharpay.

Chad and Zeke meekly followed behind the four fuming girls as Jason, Ryan, and Kelsi stood at the top of the stairs. "What do we do?" Kelsi asked in a whisper, leaning against Jason.

"Follow and try to diffuse the ticking nuclear bombs." Ryan sighed dramatically and followed the loud sound of his sister's angry heels.

Helen, Sharpay, Taylor, and Claire burst through the theater doors. She marched up on the stage and turned "Ryan." She screeched.

"Coming Gestapo." Ryan answered in a tired voice.

"Come again?" she asked, when he didn't respond she continued, "What do you know?" she demanded.

Ryan shook his head, "Nothing Sharpay, and no I don't want to be part of this. Just let them be. They look happy together."

"They are not happy together." Helen screeched.

"How would you know?" Kelsi asked her, right in her face. She winced as she yelled.

"Are you okay?" Jason was by his girlfriend's side in an instant. Kelsi brought her hand up to her forehead and wavered a bit. Jason wrapped an arm around her waist as she leaned back into him gratefully, "Kels?" he asked her concerned. She didn't answered, just motioned to a chair off to the side. He nodded and guided her over to it, helping her sit down. "What's up baby?" he asked as he pushed some hair away from her face, gently caressing her cheek.

"You too?" Taylor asked in disbelief.

"Back off Taylor." Ryan warned her.

"You do know something dude!" Zeke pointed an accusing finger at Ryan.

"Whatever." Ryan said, plopping down in a chair near Kelsi's. 'Weren't some of these people supposed to be in a class now?' he wondered to himself. He shook his head, 'Who cares now?'

"I want answers." Sharpay looked around the room ruefully, "And I want them now."

"Don't we all." Claire spat.

"Stay out of it loser." Helen directed.

"Back off her Helen." Ryan warned again. 'Why do I keep bringing myself into this? I need to keep my mouth shut.' He thought.

"Whose side are you on anyways?" Sharpay asked her brother.

"Whoever needs it the most at the moment." Ryan took his hat off and tossed it to the ground, running his hand through his hair.

Claire arched an eyebrow, 'That's really sexy.' She thought, before shaking her head.

"How long has this been going on?" Chad asked, it had been the first time he'd spoken, so everyone was surprised that he was even there.

Jason sighed, "Nearly four months." He answered from his spot next to Kelsi.

Helen let out another scream, "Can you please stop that?" Kelsi asked wearily.

"Why?" Helen asked arrogantly

"Cause she has a migraine." Jason answered for Kelsi.

"What's up with you two?" Taylor asked

"Cat's out of the bag, we're dating." Kelsi was tired, but there was no point in lying. Everyone knew about Troy and Gabriella, might as well in all lies and secrets. The theater fell silent. Everyone was thinking, trying to figure out everything.

"Who knows?" Sharpay asked

Ryan winced, this was going to hurt, "Dad, Chris (Jason's dad), Jack and Lucille (Troy's parents), and Mrs. Shepard. Oh and Jason, Kelsi, and myself."

Sharpay gaped at him, "Daddy knows?"

"Yeah, apparently mom wasn't of the same EHS social status as dad was." Ryan smiled at the thought.

Sharpay went pale, "Oh dear lord." She began to fan herself dramatically as Zeke caught her and led her over to the last of the chairs on the stage. She sat down and continued to grip onto Zeke tightly, "Say all of this isn't true." She begged.

Review!!

Mollie XOXO


	27. Chapter 22: A Few Threats

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 22: A Few Threats

Ryan let out a long, frustrated sigh before getting up and getting right in Sharpay's face, "Okay, listen here sis." He instructed her, she looked up at him mutely, "You will leave them alone. You say you're Troy's friend, you call yourself one of his best friends and yet he didn't feel he could tell you about the girl he loves because you would look upon the relationship disapprovingly. Do you understand that Sharpay? You and this school and these rules, not just you," he ran his hand through his hair again, "all of you should be ashamed," he gestured around the theater, "these are our friends, shouldn't we just want their happiness and nothing else? They're in love. They LOVE each other. Don't Helen." He stopped the brunette before she could even speak out against him, "Leave them alone or there will be consequences. Trust me. I have the right people on my side and you have no one." He glared down at his twin. She nodded.

Helen let out an ear-shattering scream, "WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE??" she got right in Ryan's face. He laughed and rolled his eyes.

"Someone who has more power and common sense than you." He retorted without flinching, "I'm helping my friend that doesn't like you in any way. He's pretty close to hating you Helen because you're so overly obnoxious, leave them alone or believe me you won't like what I will come up with for you." He threatened her. She slowly backed away. Glaring at all of them with contempt, even though she didn't know each of their positions on the issue at hand. She stomped her foot angrily, let out a loud huff, and stalked out of the theater.

"Fucking drama queen." Chad huffed, he rolled his eyes with a grin before sobering up again, "But the rules."

"Fuck the rules." Kelsi got up, all thoughts of her aching head gone, this apparently was war, "Fuck everything, this about two peoples happiness. You do know that he doesn't want to go back to basketball. Not as long as you idiots continue to follow these fucking rules. You're ridiculous, you and your rules wouldn't last a day in the real world." Taylor sniggered, "Like you don't live by them too Taylor?" Kelsi turned on her friend, "If you didn't then you wouldn't be concerned about this either. And don't say it's about her well-being, you know it's simply because you don't want to upset the balance. Well this is no fucking balance and nothing you people do is going to split them or us," she motioned to Jason and herself, "apart. Not when we're all together." As if to emphasize her point Ryan came and stood next to her, while Jason was on her other side.

"Wait, no basketball?" Zeke looked utterly confused and lost.

"Yeah, why don't you think he's been there lately, he wants to be with Gabs because he doesn't think that you guys accept him fully without her." Jason explained

"But we didn't know about her." Zeke argued

"Would you have accepted her?" Claire asked suddenly, making her way towards Ryan.

"Probably not without a fight." Zeke admitted.

"Then that must be why." Claire reasoned. "If Gabi's happy, I'm happy." She firmly decided.

Sharpay hissed, "Don't Shar." Ryan warned her before she could speak. She growled, but said nothing, obviously unhappy.

"I can't believe this is happening." Taylor moaned dramatically.

"Now who's too dramatic?" Claire asked with a smirk

"Shove it up your ass Hanson." Taylor spat with a smile nonetheless.

"So where do all of you stand on this?" Kelsi asked hopefully

Zeke looked at Sharpay who looked at all of them disdainfully. "I'll think about it." Sharpay finally decided.

"I'm with Shar." Zeke said.

"Hell no, I won't tolerate it." Helen screamed

"I dunno." Taylor admitted.

Everyone turned to look at Chad, he sighed, "I guess I'm Troy's friend, so I should meet the girl officially before I make my decision."

"Very well then." Jason said, he wrapped an arm around Kelsi's waist and led the way out of the auditorium and towards the rooftop garden. "I guess we're all skipping classes today." He chuckled.

"Fine by me, I'm so not in the mood to learn." Kelsi laughed lightly. Jason leaned down and kissed the top of her head lightly.

"So is he a nice guy?" Claire looked up at Ryan, who she had fallen in step with when Kelsi and Jason coupled off.

Ryan looked down at her and smiled, "Yeah he's a good guy."

"He's the best, he's the playmaker." Chad said, tossing his basketball that was permanently attached to him from one hand to the other. "We're so fucked that we missed practice though." He laughed

"Don't worry, you won't be. I have Jack right in my pocket." Ryan laughed, causing Chad and Claire to laugh with him.

Taylor stared across the stage towards Sharpay and Zeke. What was she doing? How was she supposed to react to this kind of information? Sighing she rubbed her temples and decided to go to class.

Walking into Spanish late the teacher said nothing, 'Must have seen the scene earlier today.' Taylor shook her head and opened her book, sliding right into the lesson.

Sharpay didn't say anything. She was weighing the pros and cons of the situation in her head, trying to figure out how this best for her, finally she looked up at Zeke, "Tell me what to do."

He smiled down at his girlfriend and took her small hand in his larger one, their fingers automatically interlacing, "I think you need to get to know her and give her a chance. You don't want to deny Troy the happiness that you and I have found. It's neither your right nor your place."

Sharpay smiled at Zeke, leaning over she kissed him softly on the lips, "You always know what to say. Let's go meet this girl then, see what Troy's all flipped out over." She stood up and Zeke followed suit.

They made their way out of the theater and towards the rooftop garden where she hoped they'd be.

Gabriella's head gently lolled to the side as she fell into a much needed sleep on Troy's shoulder. Troy smiled and kissed her temple as he picked his backpack up and placed it behind him. Using it as a pillow, he laid down, bringing Gabriella on top of him.

He closed his eyes and breathed in her delicious scent, slowly falling into a peaceful slumber as well.

The door to the garden opened and Jason, Kelsi, Ryan, Claire, and Chad walked in and stopped at the sweet sight in front of them. They smiled to each other and took seats on the floor on the other side of the garden in a circle. They quietly began to talk amongst themselves so as not to wake the sleeping couple.

"They look so sweet together." Claire commented

"They're so happy when they're together." Kelsi told her as she laid her head gently on Jason's shoulder.

"You two are cute." Claire quietly squealed

"Why do girls have to squeal?" Ryan asked

"It's just a girl thing." Claire playfully punched him on the shoulder. He smiled at her.

"Stop flirting, it's sickening, all four of you." Chad grumbled, but with a smile on his face as he said it. The five of them laughed.

The door opened again and Sharpay and Zeke quietly entered the room. They saw Troy and Gabriella sleeping and stopped to smile, before heading over to the group on the floor.

"I want to meet her and give her a chance." Sharpay said with a small smile. "I owe that much to Troy." Zeke rubbed her back comfortingly. This was going to be a long process.

Review!!

Mollie XOXO


	28. Chapter 23: People Can Surprise You

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 23: People Can Surprise You

Helen began to pace the cafeteria. Her friends weren't there. Where were they? No doubt with Troy and that slut. Suddenly the cafeteria fell silent. Helen spun on her heel to see what had caused the sudden deafening silence.

Troy and Gabriella awoke to quiet voices. Looking at each other the shrugged and began looking around. Over in the corner, in a circle quietly talking and laughing sat Chad, Claire, Ryan, Sharpay, Zeke, Kelsi, and Jason. They smiled. Were they getting along?

"What are you guys doing here?" Troy asked them.

The seven jumped in evident surprise, they all smiled before Claire spoke, "We didn't want to wake you."

"You looked so adorable." Sharpay giggled and nudged Kelsi who in turn laughed as well. Gabriella looked over at Troy confused, was this the same girl who she had almost hit the previous day? The same girl that almost hit her and tortured her for years on end?

"Seriously though dude, you did look kinda sweet over there." Chad replied, tossing his basketball in the air.

The couple looked at each other again, "What did we miss?" Gabriella asked, slightly, no extremely confused.

"We've decided to see what has you two all happy and give it a shot." Zeke smiled at his captain.

"What?" Troy and Gabriella asked at the same time.

"You heard him." Sharpay smirked, "We're actually going to screw the rules for once."

Troy and Gabriella mutely nodded, "And don't worry about class, Jack and our parents have taken care of it. Apparently Jack saw the scene this morning." Ryan laughed at Troy as Zeke subconsciously rubbed his neck.

"Sorry dude." Troy mumbled.

"It's okay Captain." Zeke waved his hand in the air like it was nothing. "I understand. I know it's tough, but we really do need you on the court, whenever you're ready."

"He's ready now." Gabriella pushed herself off of Troy's lap and sat down between Sharpay and Kelsi, "He's been ready, he's just being stubborn."

"No I'm not." Troy argued, though it was hopeless, he knew she was right.

"Yeah, you are Troy. Come on, who on God's green Earth tries to teach an 18-month-old to play basketball?" Gabriella countered, remember the scene she'd witnessed the previous week.

She smirked as Troy searched for an excuse, but couldn't find one, "I'll be there after school." He finally grumbled.

The group laughed lightly, "Where's Taylor?" Gabriella suddenly asked

Claire looked to the ground, "She said she needed to think."

"She went to class." Sharpay took Gabriella's hand in her own, "I'm really sorry Gabi, about everything for the last four years."

Gabriella looked up and smiled, she gave Sharpay's hand a light squeeze, "It's okay Sharpay, it's all okay now." She sobered quickly, "I just hope Helen doesn't cause any problems."

"If she does she faces my wrath." Sharpay said determinedly. Again the group laughed light-heartedly. This was looking good.

The lunch bell rang and they quickly realized they were hungry. "What if we all got our lunches and brought them back here?" Chad suggested, "I can't skip a meal."

"We know." Zeke, Sharpay, Troy, Ryan, and Jason chorused.

Gabriella giggled, "I'm guessing you like to eat?" Chad nodded enthusiastically, "Okay, why don't you guys come by our apartment tonight after practice. For dinner. I'm making a special Mexican dish that's a family recipe."

"Can I help with dessert?" Zeke looked up hopefully.

"Of course!" Gabriella said enthusiastically as they all got up to go grab food from the cafeteria.

"Why don't you girls stay with Ry and me for basketball practice." Sharpay suggested

"I just have to call Mrs. Shepard. I'll do it after we grab out lunches." She looked up at Troy, "Maybe Taylor'll join us."

"Maybe baby girl, people'll surprise you." He pointed to Sharpay, "There's your living proof of that." Gabriella smiled up at him and gave him a quick peck on the lips as he gave her hand an affectionate squeeze.

They opened the doors to the cafeteria and silence fell over them. Gabriella clung to Troy as the group went to get in the lunch line. They wordlessly grabbed whatever they wanted for lunch and quickly left the cafeteria.

As soon as they were gone pandemonium broke loose. Helen let out an angry scream, "Something must be done!" she determined and marched up to the table with the rest of the cheerleaders.

When she reached their table she immediately asked about their opinions on Troy and Gabriella's new found relationship.

Cole Taylor motioned for Helen to sit next to her, "We think…"

Taylor opened the door to the rooftop garden and found it empty. She groaned, she'd missed them. Before she turned around she noticed backpacks and books strewn about. Smiling she picked up a notebook with music notes drawn on the cover.

"Kelsi." Taylor said shaking her head.

"Yes Tay, Kelsi!" Kelsi smiled behind Taylor, causing her to nearly jump out of her skin.

"Hey Tay Tay." Gabriella timidly looked at her friend.

"Hey girlie. I was wondering if we could eat lunch together. All of us." She glanced nervously around the room.

Sharpay, Kelsi, Claire, and Gabriella laughed, "Of course." They chorused. Giggling the girls took seats on the ground and the guys joined them.

Zeke and Gabriella immediately started their own conversation about what they were cooking for dinner, while Jason, Chad, and Troy talked basketball. Claire and Ryan began talking about Wicked, which was coming into town. Sharpay, Kelsi, and Taylor began talking about the latest shoe line that Louboutin had come out with.

'Who'd ever thought I'd actually agree with the Ice Queen about something?' Taylor asked herself. 'Well, I guess people can surprise you.'

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Mollie XOXO


	29. Chapter 24: Introducing Lillian Reynolds

Disclaimer: I own nothing

This is a really short chapter, but don't worry the next one will be longer! Promise!!

Chapter 24: Introducing Lillian Reynolds

As soon as they were gone pandemonium broke loose. Helen let out an angry scream, "Something must be done!" she determined and marched up to the table with the rest of the cheerleaders.

When she reached their table she immediately asked about their opinions on Troy and Gabriella's newfound relationship.

Cole Taylor motioned for Helen to sit next to her, "We think that it's kind of sweet."

"What?!" Helen shrieked again

"Well," Maggie timidly looked over towards Helen, "you see, they look so good together. So natural."

"But she's a nerd!" Helen yelled again

"Well maybe that really doesn't matter." Helen spun around to be face-to-face with Taylor McKessie.

"You're a nerd, so you wouldn't care." Helen pointed out.

"You know Helen, maybe it's not always about what 'social group' you fit into at school. In the real world this," she gestured around her, "doesn't exist. So you better let it go now." And with that she stormed out of the cafeteria to the rooftop garden.

"Wait!" Sharpay screamed before they got to the science department, where the rooftop garden was located.

"What?" Everyone else chorused.

She blushed slightly, "Do you mind if we stop by the theater quickly? I need to drop off these papers." Everyone groaned and laughed at the same time.

'It's funny,' Gabriella thought, 'You'd think we'd been friends forever.' She shook her head, 'It's only been a couple of hours.'

The group entered the cafeteria and found Mrs. Darbus talking to Mrs. Lee, the music director, about the up-and-coming spring musicale, Twinkle Town. Sharpay mindlessly interrupted the women and handed Darbus the necessary papers, which turned out to be audition forms, and strutted out of the theater with the group following wordlessly behind her.

Walking up to the rooftop garden they all got quiet when they found the door opened.

"I was so sure I closed it." Ryan muttered to Claire under his breath.

"I thought so too." She agreed. Cautiously the group opened the door fully and found Taylor standing there with Kelsi's notebook in hand.

As the newly found friends talked away in the rooftop garden, Helen stormed out of the cafeteria mad as a hornet. All she needed was one person on her side to end all of the pointless drama. After Gabriella was out of the way, she could snag Troy and all her problems would be over.

"Zeke needs to go though." She muttered as she took a seat on a bench in the courtyard, "He must've turned Sharpay." As an after thought she added Ryan and Jason to the list.

Lillian Reynolds, a sophomore at East High, was sitting at the bench behind Helen. Even though she was new to the school, Lillian knew exactly who Helen was. And the only thing that crossed Lillian's mind when she thought of Helen was: Trouble.

Lillian was neither popular nor unpopular. She was new, didn't fit in anywhere, didn't play a sport, or do theater, or was on the decathlon team, she was simply Lillian. A striking girl with lots of fiery red hair, and piercing green eyes, full of intelligence, wit, and looked ready to do battle if you crossed one of her own.

She listened intently as Helen spoke into her phone. "I know Mandy, look you get back from vacation tomorrow." She nodded, "Then we can fix this problem. Besides, no one has sunken their teeth into Chad yet." She giggled, "Not like Troy, but close enough I suppose." She smiled and nodded again, "Good. See you tomorrow girl and we'll figure this mess out."

Helen smirked triumphantly and hung up the phone. Standing up, she brushed her white slacks off and strode of to her locker.

Lillian cocked her head to the side in thought, 'What to do about this?' She thought back on the conversation and realized she should probably tell Troy and Gabriella. Troy had always seemed like a genuinely nice guy. And Gabriella was a nice girl. Quiet and smart, a deadly combination in the real world. And apparently here at East High. The social cliques were hilarious. 'Okay, now to find Troy and Gabriella'.

There was a slight pause in Zeke and Gabriella's conversation when she remembered that she needed to call Mrs. Shepard. "One second." She told Zeke. Getting up she walked over to her purse and pulled her cell phone out. Dialing the all-too familiar number she pressed call.

After three rings a cheerful voice answered the phone, "Gabriella?"

"Hi Mrs. Shepard, I have a quick favor to ask." Gabriella smiled at Troy, who had sauntered over and wrapped his strong, toned arms around her petite waist.

"What is it dear?"

"Do you mind if I hang around school later today. Troy's going to basketball practice and I wanted to stay and watch." She closed her eyes hopefully.

"That's wonderful dear. I hope this means that the cat's out of the bag so to speak." Mrs. Shepard poked her head into Erin's room, "She's sleeping soundly now. She could use a strong family dear."

"We both could." Gabriella chuckled, "And yes the cat's out of the bag."

"Good. Stay as late as you need to." She hesitated slightly though.

"Mrs. Shepard, is everything all right?" Gabriella asked worriedly

'Oh dear' and a loud thud were the only response that Gabriella got before the line went dead.

Review!!

Mollie XOXO


	30. Chapter 25: Sharpay's Song

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 25: Sharpay's Song

"Mrs. Shepard?" Gabriella looked at the phone in her hand and frowned. 'That was odd, the line's dead.' Gabriella looked up at Troy thoughtfully. She froze, Erin. "I need to get home. Now." She said, her voice hurried.

Grabbing her purse she began to fumble around for her keys, but couldn't seem to locate her, 'Damn the huge bag' she thought ruefully.

She felt a hand on her arm, "I'll take you." It was Troy. He held his own car keys in his hand. Gabriella mutely nodded without an argument she picked her books up and followed Troy out the door.

The rest of the teens looked at each other and nodded. Grabbing their things, lunches forgotten, they followed Troy and Gabriella out of the front doors of the school. Coupling off they jumped into their cars and sped off to Gabriella's apartment.

Gabriella flung the unlocked door opened just in time to hear Erin start crying. Sharpay jumped into action and ran off in the direction of the crying. Gabriella's brown eyes scanned the apartment and caught sight of two feet sticking out into the doorway of the kitchen.

"Oh my God." She screamed, running into the kitchen with everyone but Sharpay behind her she saw Mrs. Shepard lying on the floor, her cell phone shattered next to her.

Taylor leaned down next to her and found a weak, but steady pulse. "She's alive, barely."

Chad came in, "An ambulance is on the way." He told them.

Gabriella mutely nodded, "Erin!" she suddenly yelled, she ran into the living room and stopped when she heard quiet singing, it was coming from Erin's room.

_**Found myself today**_

_**Oh I found myself and ran away**_

_**Something pulled me back**_

_**The voice of reason I forgot I had**_

_**All I know is you're not here to say**_

_**What you always used to say**_

_**But it's written in the sky tonight**_

Gabriella watched from the doorway of Erin's room as Sharpay gently rocked Erin, who was looking up at her with big hazel eyes, the eyes of her mother. Her mouth gaped open and a little giggle came out as her hand reached up and slightly caressed Sharpay's face.

Gabriella didn't notice as the paramedics came crashing through the doors with Jason who had waited for them downstairs. She didn't notice as Troy wrapped his arms around her tiny waist. Sharpay's voice and the song she'd chosen to sing to Erin entranced her. Who knew she could sing such a sweet song?

_**So I won't give up**_

_**No I won't break down**_

_**Sooner than it seems life turns around**_

_**And I will be strong**_

_**Even if it all goes wrong**_

_**When I'm standing in the dark I'll still believe**_

_**Someone's watching over me**_

Kelsi came to stand next to Gabriella, "Ryan and Claire are going with the paramedics. They're going to Mercy East. We should follow them." She softly placed a hand on Gabriella's shoulder.

"We're coming. You, Taylor, Chad, and Jason go ahead." Troy answered, "I'll bring Zeke, Gabriella, and Shar." Kelsi nodded and went to get Jason.

"Jase?" Jason turned to look at his girlfriend. He wrapped his arms around her tiny frame.

"Yeah honey?" He asked kissing her temple in reassurance.

"You, Taylor, Chad, and I are to head onto the hospital. Troy said he'd make sure that everyone else got there." She smiled up at him, "Sharpay's taking care of Erin right now, I think Gabi's in shock though."

Jason chuckled, "Probably, let's go." He grabbed her hand and motioned for Taylor and Chad to follow them.

_**Seen that ray of light**_

_**And it's shining on my destiny**_

_**Shining all the time**_

_**And I won't be afraid**_

_**To follow everywhere it's taking me**_

_**All I know is yesterday is gone**_

_**And right now I belong**_

_**To this moment to my dreams**_

"Baby?" Troy tugged lightly at Gabriella's shirt. "We should go, Mrs. Shepard's on her way to the hospital."

Gabriella shook her head, "I don't want to go to the hospital. I want to stay here with Erin and Sharpay."

Troy nodded his head slowly, "Okay, what if Zeke and I stay here with you guys?"

Again Gabriella shook her head, "I need you to watch out for Mrs. Shepard." Her eyes remained locked on Sharpay and Erin.

"Okay, call us if you need us." Troy walked over to Zeke who was staring out the window, letting the events of the day sink in. "El wants you and me to go to the hospital, she and Shar will stay here with Erin."

Zeke nodded and walked into Erin's bedroom, he whispered the plan in Sharpay's ear and she nodded, as she continued to bounce back and forth with Erin, who was sleeping, in her arms.

_**So I won't give up**_

_**No I won't break down**_

_**Sooner than it seems life turns around**_

_**And I will be strong**_

_**Even if it all goes wrong**_

_**When I'm standing in the dark I'll still believe**_

_**Someone's watching over me**_

It was so odd, how the lyrics applied to her and Erin's life. It was like Sharpay was singing them to both of them, and not just to soothe Erin. Gabriella walked into Erin's room and sat down in the rocker in one corner of the room. She gently rocked herself back and forth as she let Sharpay's gentle voice wash over her.

_**It doesn't matter what people say**_

_**And it doesn't matter how long it takes**_

_**Believe in yourself and you'll fly high**_

_**And it only matters how true you are**_

_**Be true to yourself and follow your heart**_

Gabriella smiled a little, that was advice her father had always given her. 'I wonder how Sharpay came across that.' Gabriella frowned, 'I wonder where she heard this song, I'd certainly love Erin to know it forever and ever.'

Troy and Zeke went sprinting into the hospital. "Where are Sharpay and Gabs?" Ryan asked quickly

"They stayed back with Erin. Gabriella didn't want to come." Zeke explained.

"Was she okay, she was in some sort of trance it looked like." Chad asked as he walked back into the waiting room eating a back of chips with a soda in her other hand.

"Always eating." Ryan muttered to himself, but everyone heard it and laughed, well, with the exception of Chad who stuck a gross tongue out at everyone.

"It was Sharpay's song." Troy said when everything died back down. "Something about the song got to her and she wanted to listen to the entire thing, over and over again." He shook his head, he had no idea what was going through her mind.

_**So I won't give up **_

_**No I won't break down**_

_**Sooner than it seems life turns around**_

_**And I will be strong**_

_**Even if it all goes wrong**_

_**When I'm standing in the dark I'll still believe**_

"She'd had a heart attack." Claire looked up with big sad eyes. "Mrs. Shepard. That was why she collapsed." Ryan took her hand.

"Poor Mrs. Shepard." Taylor moaned, putting her head in her hands, trying unsuccessfully to keep the tears at bay.

"What's Gabs going to do?" Jason looked up, "There's no way Mrs. Shepard's going to be able to keep watching Erin. It'll be too much stress on her heart."

"I don't know." Troy muttered.

_**That I won't give up**_

_**No I won't break down**_

_**Sooner than it seems life turns around**_

_**And I will be strong**_

_**Even if it all goes wrong**_

_**When I'm standing in the dark I'll still believe**_

"Elizabeth Shepard." The doctor came out. The eight teens stood up.

"Yes." They said together, waiting for the verdict.

_**That someone's watching over **_

_**Someone's watching over me**_

Sharpay put Erin back in her crib. "Come on Gab, let's make something to eat. When Chad gets back he'll be starving."

Gabriella smiled, "All the guys will be." The girls linked arms and walked into the kitchen to dig out the old family recipe.

_**Someone's watching over me**_

Review!!

Song: Someone's Watching Over Me by Hilary Duff

Mollie XOXO


	31. Chapter 26: Your Worst Nightmare

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 26: Your Worst Nightmare

Lillian had heard a rumor that Troy liked to hang out in the rooftop garden. 'Whatever that is.' She thought ruefully. Determining that it must have something to do with science she found a science teacher and asked for directions.

Taking a deep breath at the bottom of the steps, she opened the big red door and walked to the top. She pressed her ear against the door, but didn't hear anything. Inwardly groaning she opened the door and found the room empty.

Taking a close look around, she found lunch trays scattered with uneaten or half-eaten food. They'd left in a definite hurry. And from the looks of it there were 10 or 11 of them. Giving the room one final glance she noticed something that was catching light on the bench in the corner. Frowning she walked over and picked up a cell phone and a set of keys.

She looked at the simple razor and absently turned it on, scrolling through the contacts list she determined that it was probably Gabriella's. She picked up the keys she'd been fingering. She looked at the key chains and found one that had Gabriella engraved in a beautiful script.

"So her car must still be here." Lillian mused, "I wonder if the rest of them are here."

Grinning she slipped the keys and phone in her purse and ran out to the parking lot. Sure enough the well-known black Ford F150 that was Troy's was missing, as well as the obscenely pink mustang that had an "S" painted on the hood. So Sharpay and Troy were missing. "I wonder if the rest of the Wildcats are here?"

Turning on her heel she walked into the office, smiling sweetly at the lady behind the counter she asked to see the directory. The lady rolled her eyes, perturbed that the student had interrupted her reading and handed her the red and white book.

Thumbing through the pages Lillian wrote down the address for Gabriella's house as well as Troy's, knowing they'd most likely be at one or the other. Thanking the lady she walked out the school fully intending on skipping the remainder of the day. Getting in her little Saab, Lillian put Gabriella's address in her GPS system. A small map popped up and Lillian turned her car in the correct direction.

Pulling into the lot she saw the pink mustang, but no truck. "Now isn't that interesting." She mused. Shaking her head, causing her red hair to fly in every direction, she walked up to the buzzer and pressed the button for Gabriella's apartment.

"Hello" a voice basically sang on the other end. "Ah, Pay, careful with that!"

Lillian was, to say the least, extremely confused as to what was going on, but ignored it, "Hi, Gabriella Montez?"

"Um, yes, do I know you?"

"No, I'm Lillian Reynolds, I'm a sophomore at East High, I found your cell phone and car keys." Lillian explained.

"Oh dear, come on up sweetie, it's on the third floor." Lillian heard the door buzz and opened it up. Walking over to the stairs she climbed the three flights and knocked on the apartment number.

She knocked at the door and was extremely surprised when Sharpay Evans, whom was covered in flour and something brown, let her in. "Hey, Lillian, right?" Lillian mutely nodded, not quite sure what to say, "Sharpay Evans."

"Pay let her all the way in please." Gabriella whined slightly from inside the apartment.

Sharpay rolled her eyes playfully. "Sheesh Boo, hold your horses, it's coming." Sharpay stepped aside and Lillian carefully entered the apartment. It was spacious and cozy, a real home. Not a house, no definitely a home. She glanced towards the kitchen and watched as Gabriella elegantly moved from one task to the next, humming a song that Lillian had never heard before in a beautiful voice.

Looking up she smiled, "I see Shar let you in finally." Wiping her hands on a dishtowel she walked into the living room "Gabriella Montez." Suddenly crying echoed through the apartment. Gabriella looked fretfully at Sharpay who simply nodded in understanding and took off towards one of the doors off the living room.

"I brought you keys and phone." Lillian said politely. Gabriella took the outstretched items gratefully, "And I have something to tell you and Troy. Is he here?" She looked around.

"No, he's not." Gabriella frowned slightly, what could that be about?

"Um, I was minding my own business in the courtyard when Helen Parker sat down on the bench behind mine." Lillian noticed how Gabriella flinched at the name. Sharpay came back into the room rocking a beautiful baby girl who was sleeping quietly in her arms now. "She was talking to a friend and they're planning on breaking you and Troy up. Then her friend gets Chad. She also said that Zeke, Ryan, and Jason need to go, they're weak links."

"Who's the friend?" Sharpay asked.

Lillian thought for a moment, "Mandy." She said finally.

Sharpay groaned, "That bitch has been on vacation for the past two months in Spain with her dad. She's positively awful. A cheerleader, I haven't missed her one bit. Plus she's always had a thing for Chad. He hates her." Sharpay giggled a little at the thought.

"So what do we do?" Gabriella asked as she brought a bowl into the living room to stir.

"We deal." Lillian said, "They have no right to try to destroy anyone's relationships."

"You're right about that." Sharpay smirked, "I like you Lillian, and believe me that's a good thing. I say the Ice Queen needs to come out." She laughed lightly, "Stay for dinner honey and we'll get this all sorted out."

"I'd love to." A smirk formed on her face that matched Sharpay's; this was going to be fun.

The girls put Lillian back down and the three of them were just finishing up cooking when the door opened. Troy, Zeke, Jason, Kelsi, Chad, Taylor, Ryan, and Claire all walked in with huge grins on their faces.

Gabriella flew over to Troy, wrapping her arms around his neck, "Well?"

Troy wrapped his arms around her waist, "She's going to be fine. A friend, Mrs. Wells, is with her now. Mrs. Shepard will be staying with her for a while, although I think we need to find an alternative for Erin, there's no way she'll be able to handle watching her."

Gabriella pulled away and began wringing her hands, "Oh dear, who am I going to find to do that?"

"Well I do have an idea, that would work if you like it." Troy said, casually leaning against the wall.

"What?" Gabriella asked with wide eyes.

"My mom offered when she heard about Mrs. Shepard's heart attack." Troy gave her his million-dollar smile and watched as she flew quickly to the phone dialing his home number no doubt.

The gang laughed as she thanked Mrs. Bolton over and over again and as they arranged times.

"Wait a minute." Chad stepped protectively in front of the group after Gabriella set the phone down, "Who the hell are you."

Lillian looked up at him and smiled "Your worst nightmare." She said with a smirk that Sharpay would have been proud of.

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Mollie XOXO


	32. Chapter 27: Perfect

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 27: Perfect

Chad's eyes grew wide with fright and he picked up and umbrella from the umbrella stand by the door. Pointing it at Lillian he tried to push her to the corner. "Don't worry Taylor, I'll protect you."

The group watched Chad in disbelief. "You've got to be kidding me." Taylor huffed. Walking over she snatched the umbrella away from Chad, "First of all I can fight my own demons, I don't need YOU to do it for me." Chad slowly backed away from Taylor, "And second of all, that's only Lillian Reynolds. She's new, leave her alone." By now Chad was standing in the corner as far away from Taylor as he could get.

'Maybe I could dig a hole to China, it's on the other side of the earth, might work.' He thought as he determined just how far away he could get from Taylor.

"And take a plane if you're planning on running to China, you won't be able to dig a hole." Taylor read his mind as she put the umbrella in its proper place. "And Lillian, just for the record, I think I'm Chad's worst nightmare."

Lillian laughed in agreement as Chad mumbled, "You got that right." As he still cowered in the corner.

"But seriously, what's going on here?" Jason asked.

"I'm sorry, but Jason, when did you grow a brain?" Sharpay turned towards the dark-haired boy.

"Pay," Gabriella said sternly, "play nice." Gabriella thought she heard her grumble, 'yes sergeant', but chose to ignore it.

Lillian rose and introduced herself to everyone, including Chad, who, at Taylor's glare, accepted her hand. "I actually came to warn you about your worst nightmare." She frowned at their confused faces, "Helen Parker and Mandy Klein."

"What about Parker and stalker girl? She's in Spain." Chad looked around the room, "What? She follows me around like a little puppy dog." He put his hands up like paws as he said it. The room erupted in laughter.

"Only Chad." Troy shook his head and pulled a delicious smelling dish out of the oven for Gabriella as the oven timer went off.

"Food!" Chad said, grabbing a spoon off the counter and sprinting towards the dish.

Gabriella cut him off, "It's hot and it's for all of us. Now back off." She barked, slapping his hand away and taking the spoon from him. He whimpered and backed off.

"Told you Boo, Chad would be hungry." Sharpay smirked

"And he ate at the hospital too." Taylor shook her head in disbelief.

"All he does is eat, play basketball, and make stupid comments." Zeke laughed, everyone but Chad joined in.

"Okay, to bring this back on topic, what's up with Helen and Mandy?" Ryan asked from his spot under Claire on the sofa.

The gang turned to face him and arched their eyebrows as they saw Claire comfortably perched on his lap, shaking her head, Lillian told them about Helen's phone call.

"So we need a plan, and this calls for the Ice Queen." Sharpay sang out from the kitchen with a happy voice.

"Oh no, not the Ice Queen, please!" Ryan begged and pleaded.

"Actually," Gabriella walked into the living room, "I think the Ice Queen is just what we need."

Sharpay came in waving a spoon with chocolate batter on it, "See?" she dipped her finger on the spoon and licked it with triumph. Everyone groaned, as she laughed, always way too dramatic.

"So how would we use the Ice Queen to our advantage?" Lillian asked curiously

"Easy." Gabriella and Sharpay said at the same time.

"Do you want to tell them, or shall I Boo?" Sharpay asked. Gabriella motioned for Sharpay to continue, with a click of her tongue she spoke, "We pretend like nothing's changed. Troy, you and Gabriella go on being all together and everyone simply accepts it."

"Okay, I really don't get it. Aren't you supposed to be some evil genius?" Taylor groaned, "Or is that a rumor you started."

"McKessie, if you'd let me finish you'd know the other half." Sharpay dramatically moved to the center of the room, "I side with Helen and Mandy, I gain their trust and find out their plans. Then," she paused for effect, "when I hand them over to you, they will backfire."

Gabriella stood next to her, "And it will be one hell of a show." Sharpay slid and arm around Gabriella's waist.

"One fucking hell of a show sister." The girls giggled.

"You two are freaking me out." Chad said, looking warily at their faces.

"Well, how about we eat then." Gabriella giggled as Chad stormed to kitchen. "You know if World War I had been over food, Chad could have single-handily one it."

"You don't know the half of it," Troy laughed, "with him here you'll be grocery shopping every other day."

"Great." Gabriella sarcastically laughed.

The next day Troy and Gabriella entered the school hand-in-hand, ready to put Plan: Ice Queen, in action. The ignored all the glances from their fellow classmates as they walked to Gabriella's locker and then over to Troy's.

As soon as they got there, they were joined by Taylor and Chad. A few minutes later, Ryan, Jason, Kelsi, and Claire too joined them. They held their breaths waiting for Sharpay's grand entrance.

"Cute!" they heard the familiar screech from down the hallway, "Zeke Timothy Baylor have you completely lost you fucking mind?" She stomped and waved her hands dramatically, "They are not cute!"

"Shar, baby I think you might be over reacting slightly." Zeke tried to calm Sharpay.

"Oh!" She yelled, "I do NOT over react!" She stomped her foot, "How dare you say that! We are so OVER." At his fake-shocked look, she spelled it out, "O-V-E-R. OVER!" She turned on her heel and walked off to Helen's locker.

The gang let out a breath they didn't even realize they were simultaneously holding. "Part one is done." Zeke said as patted Troy on the back.

"Dude, this is gonna be so fucking hard." Troy shook his head as he smiled down at Gabriella, "But so fucking worth it."

"I love you." Gabriella looked into his big blue eyes that she'd grown so accustomed to.

"I love you too." He leaned down and captured her lips in a sweet kiss.

"You guys are too cute." Kelsi squealed.

"I know. Right?" Claire linked arms with Ryan as the bell rang, signaling the beginning of the school day. It was going to be really long.

Sharpay walked over to Helen after her "break up" with Zeke. "We have to stop them." She spat out.

Helen and Mandy turned around, "So you in?" Helen asked with a hint of excitement in her voice.

"So in." Sharpay answered

"Okay, so this is the plan." Mandy smiled as she dragged Sharpay over to her side.

Sharpay listened intently and nodded, after a moment's silence, she smiled, "Perfect."

Review!

Mollie XOXO


	33. Chapter 28: The Playmaker

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 28: The Playmaker

The door to Mrs. Darbus' classroom flew open as Sharpay, Helen, and Mandy entered the room. The gang watched warily as the three entered.

"Watch this." Sharpay directed the girls. They stopped and watched as Sharpay leaned down to whisper in Gabriella's ear, "Look scared." She directed, "They told me their plan, we'll go through all the details tonight at your place. This will be fun, trust me Boo."

Gabriella did as she was told; she shrunk back in her seat and whimpered as she let fake shakes take over her body. Giving a wicked smile to the rest of the gang she marched back over to Mandy and Helen.

"What'd you say to her?" Mandy asked in her nasal voice.

"Wouldn't you like to know; the Ice Queen never reveals her secrets." Sharpay clicked her tongue and took a seat on the opposite side of the room. She hid a smile and Gabriella climbed onto Troy's lap and dug her head into his neck, no doubt passing on the information.

'They really are so sweet and perfect.' Sharpay thought as she watched him draw invisible designs on her back as his other hand ran carelessly through her hair. 'She's fucking gorgeous too.'

The day passed as they expected. Sharpay would 'threaten' Gabriella every now and again as she hung out with Helen and Mandy. The rest of the school looked on, ready for a show, and a dramatic one nonetheless since Sharpay was involved.

When the day was over Taylor, Claire, Kelsi, Ryan, and Gabriella watched the boys' basketball practice. For not being in practice for the last two months Troy was doing surprisingly well. The Championship Game was in two weeks and everyone had to be on their game.

"We need to tell Shar to make sure she finishes off the plan well before the Championships." Ryan commented dryly, "We still wanna kick West High's ass'."

"We'll bring it up tonight, what do you guys want for dinner?" Gabriella asked.

"Dinner?" They heard the call from the court. They looked down just in time to see a ball hit Chad in the back of the head as he was distracted by the thought of food.

"Chad stop thinking about food and focus." Jack said, as he rolled his eyes up to the spectators who simply laughed. Glaring at them all Chad rejoined the game, though he was most likely still thinking of food.

"I was thinking of doing tacos tonight." Gabriella whispered, to try and not distract Chad even more so.

"Tacos?" the ball hit Chad yet again, this time causing him to hit the ground. They heard a small groan before he got back to his feet with the help of Jason and Zeke.

"Seriously Chadwick, just focus." Taylor directed him; "There'll be time enough for food AFTER practice, just think of it as a reward."

Chad cocked his head to the side, "Reward?" He thought for another moment as everyone watched, waiting to see what would happen next, "That's a good idea." He smiled brightly at Taylor, "Thanks Tay, now I can focus."

Taylor discreetly rolled her eyes, "No problem Chadwick." Chad winked at her and continued playing,

Jack shook his head, "Impossible." He muttered, "Thank God for Taylor apparently." He waved his thanks up to Taylor, who waved a your welcome back. Practice came to a close and the gang waited as Troy, Chad, Jason, and Zeke showered before heading back to Gabriella's for tacos and playmaking.

They walked in to find Sharpay already there, using the spare key that Gabriella had given her. "Okay, so I started laying stuff out for the tacos." She smiled as she rolled the miniature basketball back to Erin, obviously a gift from Troy,

"Thanks Pay." Gabriella said as she dropped a kiss on Erin's head and headed towards the kitchen with Kelsi to start preparations for dinner.

As the girls cooked Sharpay filled the gang in on Mandy and Helen's plan of action. "So what do you think?" Sharpay asked as she lifted Erin off the ground.

"It's so simple it'd never work even if we hadn't known what it was." Claire muttered in disgust. "You clearly were the playmaker of that group, Shar." She shook her head.

"Of course, I'm the brains of everything." Sharpay tossed her blonde hair over her shoulder, "I'm going to bathe Erin now Boo."

"Thanks so much Pay." Gabriella called from the kitchen.

"I'll help you Shar." Zeke smiled as he opened Erin's bedroom door for Sharpay who smiled her thanks.

"Is my reward ready yet?" Chad asked from the kitchen doorway, he was practically dancing around ready to eat.

"Almost Chad, I promise." Gabriella smiled at his child-like tendencies.

15 minutes later, courtesy of Jason and Ryan, Erin was fed and put to bed. The gang made up their plates and dispersed themselves around the small living room chatting lightly as the TV played quietly in the background. At 7:30 Ryan rose and stretched, "I think it's time we head out, I've got a huge Chem test tomorrow." He looked pointedly at Troy, who was whispering in Gabriella's ear.

"I heard you Ry." Troy said, before sticking his face in Gabriella's hair and nibbling on her earlobe.

"Yuck, we're out of here." Chad made a face, "Come on Taylor." He held out his hand and pulled her up off the floor.

"Night lovebirds." Sharpay sang out as she made a flourish exit out of the apartment.

When the apartment was empty Troy threw Gabriella over his shoulder and carried her squealing self into their bedroom. Tossing her lightly on the bed her collapsed on top of her, immediately attacking her neck.

She moaned as he sucked harshly on her sensitive spot. Her hands traveled from his broad shoulders to the top button of his light blue button down. One by one she unbuttoned each individual button. Running her hands over his sculpted chest she pushed the shirt off of his shoulders, allowing it to fall to the bed.

Troy's hands slid under her t-shirt, tauntingly pushing it upward, as he grazed her stomach and breasts, until it was finally over her head. Slipping his hands behind her back, he unclasped her bra and tossed it to the far corner of the dark room. Gabriella arched her back as his mouth found her left breast.

Fiddling with his belt buckle, she finally undid it, her slim fingers quickly moving onto the button on his jeans and the zipper. She tugged at them until he finally lifted his hips and helped her pull them down, leaving him clad in his green and yellow plaid boxers.

Troy swiftly unbuttoned and unzipped Gabriella's short jean skirt and tossed it into the darkness that surrounded them. Smiling down at his girlfriend, he slid his fingers into her blue lace thong and yanked it off. Before she could comprehend what was happening, his boxers were off and he was inside of her.

She moaned as he slowly picked ups his pace until they were both screaming with the power of their orgasms. When they came off their highs, they suddenly became aware of a distant crying. Groaning, they pulled themselves out of bed. Troy slipped on is boxers, while Gabriella buttoned up his blue oxford as they both made their way into Erin's room.

When the crying didn't cease they brought her back into their room and set her between them, quietly singing to her.

_**Troy: **_

_**We're soarin', flyin'**_

_**There's not a star in heaven **_

_**That we can't reach**_

_**Gabriella:**_

_**If we're trying **_

_**So we're breaking free **_

_**Troy: **_

_**You know the world can see us **_

_**In a way that's different than who we are **_

_**Gabriella: **_

_**Creating space between us**_

'_**Til we're separate hearts**_

_**Both: **_

_**But your faith it gives me strength**_

_**Strength to believe**_

_**Troy: **_

_**We're breakin' free**_

_**Gabriella: **_

_**We're soarin'**_

_**Troy: **_

_**Flyin' **_

_**Both: **_

_**There's not a star in heaven **_

_**That we can't reach **_

_**Troy: **_

_**If we're trying **_

_**Both: **_

_**Yeah, we're breaking free**_

_**Troy: **_

_**Oh, we're breakin' free**_

_**Gabriella: **_

_**Ohhhh**_

_**Troy: **_

_**Can you feel it building**_

_**Like a wave the ocean just can't control**_

_**Gabriella: **_

_**Connected by a feeling**_

_**Ohhh, in our very souls**_

_**Both: **_

_**Rising 'til it lifts us up**_

_**So every one can see**_

_**Troy: We're breakin' free**_

_**Gabriella: We're soarin'**_

_**Troy: Flyin' **_

_**Both: **_

_**There's not a star in heaven**_

_**That we can't reach **_

_**Troy: **_

_**If we're trying **_

_**Yeah we're breaking free**_

_**Gabriella: **_

_**Ohhhh runnin'**_

_**Troy: **_

_**Climbin'**_

_**To get to that place **_

_**Both: **_

_**To be all that we can be**_

_**Troy: **_

_**Now's the time**_

_**Both: **_

_**So we're breaking free**_

_**Troy: **_

_**We're breaking free**_

_**Gabriella: **_

_**Ohhh , yeah**_

_**Troy: **_

_**More than hope**_

_**More than faith**_

_**Gabriella: **_

_**This is true**_

_**This is fate **_

_**And together**_

_**Both: **_

_**We see it comin'**_

_**Troy: **_

_**More than you **_

_**More than me**_

_**Gabriella: **_

_**Not a want, but a need**_

_**Both: **_

_**Both of us breakin' free**_

_**Gabriella: Soarin' **_

_**Troy: Flyin' **_

_**Both: **_

_**There's not a star in heaven **_

_**That we can't reach **_

_**If we're trying **_

_**Troy: Yeah we're breaking free**_

_**Gabriella: **_

_**Breaking free**_

_**Were runnin' **_

_**Troy: **_

_**Ohhhh, climbin'**_

_**Both: **_

_**To get to the place **_

_**To be all that we can be**_

_**Now's the time**_

_**Troy: Now's the time**_

_**Gabriella: So we're breaking free**_

_**Troy: Ohhh, we're breaking free**_

_**Gabriella: Ohhhh**_

_**Both: **_

_**You know the world can see us**_

_**In a way that's different than who we are**_

Smiling at each other they looked down at the sleeping form of Erin and they knew that everything was going to be okay. Wrapping their arms around Erin they fell into a contented sleep, ready for the drama that would come the following day.

Sorry for the delay, everything's been insane, I move into the dorms in two weeks, so hopefully I'll be able to finish all these stories! I love you all!

Review

Mollie XOXO


	34. Chapter 29: One Hell of a Show

Disclaimer: I own nothing

This is dedicated to I-Fizz and all my amazing readers! Thank you for your patience, it's been an insane few months, but things are finally calming down and this story is coming to a nice close! I'm really excited about it and hope you enjoy these next few chapters.

Chapter 29: One Hell of a Show

Troy and Gabriella opened the big red doors of East High the next morning ready to see Mandy and Helen's "plan" fall into action. It was so bad that they didn't even need a counter-plan, they could just go with the flow and do whatever the hell they wanted to do to embarrass them. If they didn't embarrass themselves that it.

When the gang, minus Sharpay of course, was collected in front of Taylor's locker Gabriella spoke up, "I had a thought." She smirked at everyone. "So I really want to get this over with, why don't we provide them with the perfect opportunity." She twirled a piece of hair around her finger.

"Like you and Troy not be attached to each other today and let them have at it?" Zeke asked with and arched eyebrow. When Gabriella nodded he held up his hand for a high-five, "I love the way you think Brie." Gabriella giggled and gave returned his high-five.

"I know." She smirked as Troy grinned down at her before giving her a small kiss.

"Let's do it." He said.

"Okay, so during lunch I'll go to the library." Gabriella smiled at her friends, "Anyone want to join me?"

"I will." Claire, Kelsi, and Taylor said with a laugh. "We'll see you guys at the end or after lunch." Kelsi said, pecking Jason on the cheek as the bell rang.

"Let's rock this shit." Taylor laughed as Chad grabbed her hand and the nine friends headed off towards homeroom with Darbus.

After what felt like hours lunch came around. The gang all met at Gabriella's locker. "Ready?" Gabriella asked.

"Yeah." Troy smiled, "Look, whatever I do, just know that it will end with me being with you."

"And whatever you see, just know that it's not true." Gabriella looked at him, slightly nervous now. Giving Troy one last kiss the four girls linked arms and headed off to the library to do some "work".

With her A.P. Chemistry textbook open, Gabriella was intent upon getting some studying done before she had to go to class for the test. Unfortunately all she could think about was what was happening with Troy at that moment most likely. She was so nervous that he'd believe Helen or Mandy and she'd lose him.

"Gabs," Taylor took her small hand into her own, "he's not going to leave you for one of those two bimbos. Trust me." Taylor gave her a smile, which she gladly returned. Taylor was right after all, if he wanted to be with one of them what the fuck would he had waited for?

Sharpay, Helen, and Mandy walked into the cafeteria and found the guys sitting alone talking quietly while they ate. Clearly Boo wanted the plan to be over with. "Girls." She got Mandy and Helen's attention.

"Yeah?" they asked

"It's now or never." Sharpay pointed to the table where Troy sat.

"It's now." Helen stood up with the gear in hand.

With the guys Chad was moping while he picked at his food. "Dude what the fuck is going on?" Jason asked, since when did Chad not eat.

"I miss Taylor already." He groaned as he put his sandwich back down after taking only one bite.

"Dude, you're whipped." Ryan laughed slapping his back.

"Oh Troysie?" Troy turned around to see Helen.

"What Helen?" Troy asked tiredly. This was it.

"I need to talk to you." She pushed Zeke aside with a glare and leaned into Troy.

"What Helen?" Troy asked again, he had to appear aggravated, which wasn't hard seeing as how it was Helen.

"I have some bad news for you." She batted her eyelashes, causing Troy to roll his eyes.

"And that would be…" he waited on her annoying self to continue.

"Gabriella is cheating on you." She spoke matter-of-factly.

"I'm sure she is. And Mickey Mouse is standing right behind you." Troy sarcastically spat out.

The table laughed as Helen glared at them all, including Troy. "Fine, you don't have to believe me, but I have proof."

"And what 'proof' would that be?" Troy asked, putting emphasis on the word 'proof'.

"This." Helen snapped out a picture of Gabriella kissing the West High Knights Captain, Chase Adams.

Troy took the photo and looked closely at it. The table watched as Helen held her breath. It was a well photoshopped picture. In fact, if he hadn't been the one actually kissing Gabriella, he might have bought it. Well, that and if he didn't trust Gabriella. She'd never even met Chase and she's not Chase's type. Troy and Chase actually got along pretty well, contrary to popular belief, the two teams got along well off the court, they just let the schools think there was some huge rivalry. No, this was not a real photograph. Now all he had to do was decide how to humiliate Helen and crew. Smirking he decided to play along.

He allowed his smirk to turn into a scowl. Tossing the picture on the table he turned to Helen, "Thank you Helen." He growled.

"For what?" She asked slightly nervous.

"For introducing me to my girlfriend." He stood up and stormed out of the cafeteria.

Chad picked up the photograph and frowned, it was so clearly photoshopped in his mind, or maybe that was just because he knew Chase wouldn't go after Troy's girl, especially if she wasn't an athlete, Chase only dated athletes. Playing along with Troy he spat out, "I bet Taylor knew about this."

He tossed the photo at Zeke who showed it to Ryan and Jason before following Chad out of the cafeteria in search of Troy. The whole school was silent. Helen stood up triumphantly. She'd won. Or so she thought.

Troy banged his into the library, sure that word had already gotten out he had to keep up the part. Gabriella looked up at the doors loudly opening and cringed. Troy looked seriously pissed. But then she caught his eyes and sighed inwardly, knowing it was an act. She stood up and ran over to him.

"What's wrong Troy?" she asked concerned.

"Come with me." He directed

Gabriella nodded and swiftly collected her books without a word. The girls grabbed their stuff too and followed Troy and Gabriella out of the still shocked library and down the hall. On the way they ran into Zeke, Jason, and Ryan.

Leading the way, Troy headed back to the cafeteria, not giving the bystanders a second glance. Slamming the red and white cafeteria doors opened the room once again fell silent. Troy marched over to the table and picked up the discarded photograph of Gabriella and Chase.

Turning to his girlfriend he tossed it at her. Gabriella quietly set her books down on a table occupied by skaters. Picking up the picture that was now lying at her feet she took a close look at it. She didn't even know who this guy was, but she was sure that it was someone that Troy would be SERIOUSLY pissed if he caught her kissing.

Looking up at Troy, then glancing at her friends, and finally at Sharpay, Helen, and Mandy she let her eyes return to the photo. Taking a deep breath she took in the message in Troy's eyes. Smiling, she spoke, thus ending the unbearable silence in the cafeteria.

"Who is this?" she asked, her voice laced with amusement.

Troy chuckled, "Chase Adams, the West High basketball captain."

"And I would be kissing him on East High's campus because…" the cafeteria gasped. Gabriella was caught kissing Chase Adams?

"I don't know babe." Troy shoved his hands in his pockets.

Helen and Mandy looked at each other and slowly began to descend the stairs, with Sharpay on their heels, but for other reasons.

"So does anyone know?" Gabriella turned to her friends who took it as their cue to shrug helplessly. "Okay, good to know." Gabriella smiled at her boyfriend.

"You know what's really funny though?" Troy asked.

"What?" Gabriella looked up at him curiously.

"That's supposed to be you and me." Troy looked at the photo, "In fact, if you look really closely you can see where I was photoshopped out and Chase was placed in." He pointed to the top of the dark haired boy's head, "See dirty blonde." Then he pointed to his own head, "Dirty blonde." He repeated, causing Gabriella to giggle at his tone.

"So where'd you get this from?" She smiled as she asked

"From Helen." Troy pointed to Helen, who had gone slightly pale.

"So why did Helen give this to you?" Gabriella looked at the girl as she wrapped an arm around Troy's waist. Troy smiled down at her and kissed the top of her head.

"To break you two up. To make Troy think you cheated on him." Gabriella and Troy turned towards the direction that the given information had come from.

And there stood Sharpay Evans, with her arm wrapped around Zeke's torso, and his arm doing the same to hers. "Thanks Pay." Gabriella said, releasing herself from Tory's grip. The girls met half way and hugged. The cafeteria remained dead quiet.

"So the synopsis of this little escapade," Taylor stepped forward from the group, "is that Helen and Mandy planned to get Troy and Gabriella away from each other and took a picture of Troy and Gabriella kissing and used Photoshop to make it into Chase and Gabriella."

Kelsi took the spot next to Taylor, "And this was all to make Troy dump Gabriella?" she asked the cafeteria as a whole.

"Then Helen could snag Troy up, just like he was a piece of meat instead of a person." Claire finished.

"Oh and they were hoping that Chad would think that Taylor knew about it so Mandy could take him. If not, they were planning a way to let her get to him." Sharpay smiled and gave Chad an apologetic look, "Sorry man." She said, causing the group of friends to giggle.

Helen stomped her foot, "You all knew this was happening!" she screamed, "You!" she pointed to Sharpay, wagging her finger dangerously close to her face, "You are a two timer who told them our plan!" she raged in an accusing voice.

"Sweetheart," Sharpay began in a condescending voice, "your plan wouldn't have worked even if I had kept my big mouth shut. I was the playmaker of the group and you two," she shook her head disdainfully, "you two suck at making plans. That one was meant to be fucked up it was so bad." She smirked, "Then again it was so fun to see you two fail."

"Mandy, Helen." Mandy and Helen turned at the sound of Principal Matusi's voice, "Come with me, we have some things we need to talk about in my office." He turned to walk out with them following meekly behind.

"Score for the Wildcats!" Ryan yelled with his hands in the air.

"Hey what team?" Chad asked

"Wildcats!" the gang screamed

"Come on everyone! What team?"

The whole cafeteria answered, "Wildcats!"

"WHAT TEAM?"

"WILDCATS!"

"WILDCATS?" Chad asked with his eyebrows arched

"GETCHA HEAD IN THE GAME!" The entire cafeteria cheered with the triumphant friends.

Gathering together they all sighed; that had been one hell of a show. "I'm ready to go home now." Gabriella laid her head on Troy's shoulder.

"What about we all try to go home 'sick'?" Jason suggested with a mischievous glint in his brown eyes.

"Movie time!" they chorused.

"My house?" Gabriella smiled.

"Fuck yeah!" Chad pumped his fist in the air.

"We can pick Erin up from my house later tonight." Troy commented, "Mom will watch her later for us."

"Sounds good to me." Gabriella smiled up at her amazing boyfriend; this was all going to work out just fine.

Review!!

Mollie XOXO


	35. Chapter 30: Here We Are

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 30: Here We Are

"Zeke Timothy Baylor. Troy Alexander Bolton. Jason Michael Cross. Chadwick Matthew Danforth. Ryan Scott Evans. Sharpay Michelle Evans. Claire Marie Hanson. Amanda Haley Mann. Taylor Nicole McKessie. Gabriella Elizabeth Montez. Kelsi Ann Neilson. Helen Catherine Parker. Lillian Hayden Reynolds." The list went on and on, as one by one the students walked up to Principal Matusi to receive their diplomas. They were making their final mark on East High School, walking in the gymnasium for the very last time.

"By the power vested in me by the state of New Mexico I give you the graduating class of 2008." The cheers of the class as a mass of red graduation caps filled the arena drowned Principal Matusi's sentence out. Once all had quieted down again, the processional music once again sounded and the students filed outside, where they could await the congratulations from their teachers and relatives.

As soon as he got outside, Troy Alexander Bolton, the high-school graduate turned around in search of his girlfriend, Gabriella Elizabeth Montez, also the high-school graduate and Salutatorian of the class, right under Taylor Nicole McKessie.

"Wildcat!" he heard the cry from a distance and spun on his heel, opening his arms as Gabriella threw herself at him, instinctively wrapping her legs around his waist. Troy spun around in a circle as she giggled, shoving her face in his neck and taking in his scent.

Placing her feet back on the ground he looked down at her, "You were amazing Brie." He smiled at her as she blushed. "And you're so cute when you blush." She looked away hitting him on his hard bicep.

"I love you Wildcat." Gabriella gave him her million-dollar smile before they were flocked by their friends.

"We did it!" Taylor squealed as the girls gathered up for a group hug.

"I know, we're officially graduates of East High School." Claire looked at the school and gave a crooked grin. "FINALLY!" she screamed, causing all the girls to scream with her.

"You girls are loud." Zeke playfully began playing with his ears as if he were going deaf, only to earn a slap from Sharpay. "Ow, just kidding." He rubbed the back of his head.

"Gabriella darling!" It was Mrs. Shepard, she had made it to the ceremony with Erin in tow, she had insisted upon being there, much to Gabriella's delight. Gabriella smiled and slipped out of the robe, handing it to Troy, who gladly accepted it.

Taking Erin out of her carrier she began to rock her baby sister, "Abby." Everyone turned to look at Erin.

"Did she just try to say my name?" Gabriella asked astonished.

"I think so…" Sharpay looked down at the little girl she'd grown to love with wide eyes.

"Abby." The little girl repeated once again.

"Oh my goodness, that's right sweetie." Gabriella encouraged her.

Erin's head turned towards Troy, "Oy." She tried.

"Yup, that's it baby girl." Troy smiled down at her, taking her hand in his own. The gang laughed, none of them had ever known Troy had such a soft spot.

"I'll take the robes to the locker room." Zeke offered. Everyone nodded and took them off, handing them over to Zeke who went to check them in.

When Zeke returned 10 minutes later the chatter had died down considerably, Troy suddenly turned to Gabriella, "Marry me?" he asked, shocked that the words flew out of his mouth.

Gabriella looked at him with wide eyes. Taylor immediately took Erin into her own arms so Gabriella wouldn't drop her, "Really?" Gabriella asked hopefully.

Troy wrapped his arms around her waist, "Really." He replied. Then he slipped his hand into his pocket and took out a small blue box that he thankfully had been carrying around for the past week.

Tears filled Gabriella's eyes as she nodded her head 'yes' to Troy's question and gasped as Troy slipped the beautiful diamond ring on her finger. Flinging her arms around his neck she began whispering "Yes" over and over in his ear, causing Troy to chuckle at her enthusiasm.

And that's how they ended up here, with Zeke knocking on the room at the hotel on the beach in New Mexico that the girls' were using as a dressing room. "Come in." Taylor called out.

"Everyone ready here?" Zeke asked, looking around.

"Yup, everyone's ready." Gabriella answered taking a deep breath and looking at Erin who was holding a basket of flower petals. "Let's do this." She nodded her head.

"Okay, I'll tell the guys and we'll see you beautiful ladies out there." Zeke winked at them as he turned and left.

Walking back into the guys' makeshift dressing room he nodded, "They're ready for us to start." He told everyone.

Troy nodded taking in a long breath. "Alright, let's go get me married." He chuckled as the guys slapped him on the back and they headed out to get the minister.

And there they were, standing on the a raised platform by the ocean, waiting for the girls to enter. One by one they came down the make shift aisle, created by two sides of fold up chairs. First Claire, then Kelsi, then Taylor, and finally Sharpay, the maid of honor.

All of them were dressed in sapphire blue dresses, made of the same silky material and all cut just above the knee, but in different styles. Claire's hair was pulled back in a bun, Taylor's was straightened, Kelsi's in tight ringlets, and Sharpay's in loose curls.

Next came in Lindsay, Troy's cousin, the ring bearer, and Erin, the flower girl. Both dressed in light blue dresses. Before finally everyone stood as Jack and Gabriella entered. Her strapless white gown hugging her curves in the bodice before slightly flaring out, with sequins and rhinestone making it shimmer in the light of the fading day. Her hair was pulled up in a messy bun that probably took hours to put together, while loose strands fell down in curls framing her face. Her bouquet, along with the other girls' smelled of Gardenias, the flowers used at her parent's wedding as well. And everything was perfect.

As Troy accepted her hand, they glanced at each other, trying to fight the urge to steal a quick kiss before beginning. And finally they said "I do", sharing their vows and placing the rings on their fingers.

"I give you Mr. and Mrs. Troy Alexander Bolton." Reverend Are formally introduced the newly married couple to the world, well their world, as everyone stood up and clapped before the two made their way down the aisle, ready to begin their life together.

That's it! I hoped you liked Learning to Breathe! I want to thank everyone who was so patient with me through all the hard times!! I love you all.

Mollie XOXO


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